Second Star to the Right
by NiffAreForever
Summary: At night, Nick dreams of a strange blonde boy, and during the day, he converts these dreams into stories. But he never would have imagined that one night he'd find the same boy in his room, searching for his lost shadow; for this is Jeff Sterling, the boy who never grew up... Peter Pan!Niff AU
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, welcome to the first chapter of my new Niff story - if you've read my first story, ****_Conspiratio_****, then thank you, and if you haven't, please do :)**

**I want to point out that, while this is based on Peter Pan, it is not a crossover, the plot will have some very clear similarities and the characters may be based rather heavily on the original Peter Pan characters, but they will not be crossing over. To be honest, the only characters that will be similar will be Nana the dog and the ticking crocodile! This fanfic is based on both the book by J. M. Barrie and the Walt Disney film, but I have had to change some major aspects :) But please, do enjoy it :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

Our story begins in London, although it shall not remain in London for very long. Now, London is a very large place indeed, and to the untrained eye, it would be impossible to find where it is in the city that we will start.

It is not a great landmark, such as the tower of Big Ben, or the domed roof of St Paul's Cathedral, instead, it is a rather insignificant building near Kensington Gardens. But for the purpose of this story, it is not insignificant in the slightest, nor is Kensington Gardens, which, in truth, began all of these strange happenings.

The building is rather tall and thin, made in the fashion of the previous century, having never been updated since. But the occupants don't mind, the appearance of their dwelling is not the most prominent issue in their minds; in fact, for the adults, their most common state of mind was of worrying whether they had enough food to feed all of the hungry persons in their care. For, you see, this building was an orphanage.

There were a great many children in the orphanage, the majority of them under the age of ten; I shall not trouble you with their names, for they do not feature particularly in this story. However, there were three elder children, all above the age of sixteen, who I shall tell you about. The younger pair were named Kurt and Blaine, neither were related in any way, and had been the best of friends since before anyone could remember.

It is the eldest that we are most concerned with, for it is his story that is to be recounted. Nicholas Duval was seventeen, and therefore the protector of the younger children. He'd been left at the orphanage as a tiny baby, with only a blanket and a scrap of paper with his name written on, and he was the first child that the proprietors had brought up; although inexperienced at first, they must have been succeeding in some way, for Nicholas grew up to be a well-mannered and clever young man.

The aforementioned proprietors were a Mr and Mrs Schuester, a young couple who, upon discovering that they could not have children on their own, set up the orphanage, since Emma Schuester was of a motherly nature, and longed for many children to care for. Her husband, Will Schuester, was of a similar opinion, although he had questioned his judgement on one or two occasions when the children got into mischief.

The last notable member of the household was the Schuesters' dog, Nana, who served as the closest the orphans had to a nurse, for she always escorted them to their schooling, and brought them their clothes or belongings when they were needed.

Altogether, the household was a peaceful one, albeit a little hectic, and nothing out of the ordinary ever happened there. But there is always calm before a storm, and there was a storm coming indeed for one Nicholas Duval.

* * *

Nicholas, or Nick, as he preferred to be called, had been doing nothing in particular for the majority of the day, and now he'd been practically summoned by one of the younger children, to read them all a bedtime story. It was tradition, you see, and Nick was especially good at making up stories.

Except Nick wasn't entirely making them up, for every night he dreamt of a mysterious island, with its lagoon and rambling forests; its pirate ships and Red Indian camps; and most of all, its inhabitants. He dreamt of the pirates, the Red Indians, mermaids in the lagoon, and a tall blonde boy, who was about his own age. It was the blonde boy that intrigued Nick the most, and although at first he never saw more than a fleeting glance of him, over time, he learned more and more about him. He discovered that his name was Jeff Sterling, and the first time that Nick saw the other boy properly, he was speechless; Jeff Sterling was the most beautiful person that he'd ever seen. Not only that, but the boy had never changed in the whole time Nick had dreamed about him, and if the thought wasn't completely strange, then Nick would have concluded that Jeff Sterling never grew up.

And so Nick took the adventures that he had in his dreams, and he turned them into stories for the children. Yet he'd never been able to speak the blonde boy's name aloud, it seemed too personal and anyway, he was Nick's secret. So, Nick named the character in his stories Peter Pan, and nobody was any wiser to the origins of Nick's ideas and imagination.

Blaine and Kurt, though, being older than the rest of the children, did often ask Nick where he found the inspiration to his stories. But the older boy would just shrug and smile, before telling them that it just came naturally to him.

In fact, many things did come naturally to Nick, such as caring for the younger children as though they were actually his siblings. If one child needed a pair of socks darned, then they went to Nick, not Mrs Schuester, who could not sew at all. If another child wanted someone to teach them a sport, they asked Nick, not Mr Schuester, who never partook in any sort of physical activity. And finally, if any child had a nightmare, it would be to Nick's room that they would run, or it would be Nick's name that they'd call out.

Nick did like the fact that other children looked up to him, and that they all loved him dearly, but it did mean that he was left with very little time for himself. And what Nick needed at that point, was some time to himself, for he needed to consider what sort of path he would follow once he was grown up.

He'd collected notes on every story that he'd ever told, and had thought about having them published as a book. But then he worried about whether the books would sell, and he worried about the amount of money that they might bring in. For money was the one thing he needed, he had barely threepence to his name, and he needed a steady income if he was to support himself in the future.

And that future was approaching dreadfully fast. In less than a week, he would be eighteen, and he'd have to leave the safety of the orphanage forever. It was a terrifying prospect, and if there was anything that Nick didn't want to do, it was grow up.

* * *

However, unbeknownst to all in the orphanage, it was not just the orphans who enjoyed listening to Nick's stories.

Every night, under the cover of darkness, Jeff Sterling hid under the windowsill of whichever room Nick was telling his stories in. He was lucky, for against the back of the house stood a large oak tree, and its branches served as a place to sit whenever Jeff visited.

He loved hearing the way that Nick told the stories, and he was even more thrilled when he heard Nick describing him; even if he did curiously alter his name somewhat, Jeff always knew that he was referring to him. Yet his favourite stories would always be those that he'd never heard of; the one with the girl who lived with seven small people, or the girl who fell asleep for a hundred years. They fascinated Jeff, who'd never had much contact with girls, and yet the stories mostly appeared to be about them in particular, and Jeff had come to the conclusion that they were a strange group of people. He decided that as amazing as Nick's storytelling about girls was, he'd stick to boys in real life; they seemed a lot simpler to understand.

Now, our story really begins on the night that Jeff finally gained the courage to enter the Schuester household and find Nick. He'd always wanted to see the other boy, and ask him where he found his stories, but more than anything, he wanted the other boy to know that he, Jeff Sterling, was very impressed with the fact that he'd somehow incorporated his own adventures into the stories.

Unfortunately for Jeff, he'd got caught up talking with the south-west wind, and had therefore forgotten, for a little while, where he was supposed to be. When he did finally remember, however, he rushed and made it to the orphanage in record time.

But it was not fast enough, for Nick, having heard one of the younger children crying out in their sleep, had left his room to comfort the other child. And so, when Jeff arrived at the window, the room was empty.

Now, Jeff was not the sort of person to just give up and return the next night in hope of better luck, so he decided that he'd wait for Nick to return, as he would have to do inevitably.

However, Jeff was also not the most patient of people, and after a few minutes of sitting on the nearest branch of the oak tree, he'd become bored and thought that it would probably be better if he actually went and looked for Nick. Later, he'd probably realise, although never admit it, that this idea went against his better judgement, but nevertheless, he prised the window even further open, and dropped noiselessly onto the floor below.

Now, although educated in the ways of the Red Indians and the practice of being completely silent, Jeff could not stop himself from crowing in delight when it occurred to him that he'd made it into the Schuester household undiscovered.

That crow turned out to be his undoing, for if he'd remained silent for perhaps ten minutes more, Nick would have come back from comforting another child, and he would have seen Jeff. However, instead of bringing Nick running, Jeff's crow brought Nana instead.

Nana was fiercely protective of the occupants of her household, and if she thought that one of them was in danger, then she acted accordingly. Now, Nana did not know that Nick was in another room, and her immediate instinct was that Nick was being attacked while he slept, so she rushed into the bedroom as fast as she could.

She found Nick's bed empty, and a strange blonde boy standing in the middle of the floor looking mightily pleased with himself instead. Nana had not heard the stories of Jeff Sterling, for if she had, then she might have recognised that this was him, but since she didn't, she leapt at him with as much ferocity as she could muster.

Jeff was startled out of his excitement by an angry bark, and before he could register what was happening, a large dog was jumping at him. Jeff was usually comfortable around many animals, having lived around a number of rather exotic and dangerous ones, but the sight of the dog suddenly panicked him, though, again, he would never admit it, and he jumped out the window in fright.

Again, unfortunately for him, he was not entirely quick enough, and Nana snapped at his heels, tearing off his shadow in the process. Jeff, although rather indignant about the loss of his shadow, was too proud to turn around and retrieve it, and so he just continued on his way, vowing to himself that he would return and find it as soon as he could.

Now, although Jeff has gone, we must return to Nick's room and discover the mess that has been made there, for Nana is now sitting on the floor mournfully looking at the crumpled shadow that she had bitten from Jeff.

Nick returned to his room at the sound of Nana's bark, and found her in this position. He knelt down beside her, and petted her behind the ears.

"What's wrong, Nana?" he asked, looking at her curiously.

Nana whined, and pawed at the shadow on the ground. Nick picked the shadow up and held it in front of him in bewilderment.

"Nana?" he said slowly, "Is this a shadow?"

Nana whined again and hid her head in her paws. Nick frowned and stood up, examining the shadow carefully.

"I wonder who it belongs to?" he mused, "It's certainly too tall for any of the children, and too thin for Mr Schuester."

Nana barked a few times, and occasionally waved a paw in the air, but, for once, Nick could not understand her.

"I'm sorry, Nana," he said, "But I think in the excitement, you did not see his face, did you?"

Nana barked sadly and shook her head. Nick patted her gently.

"You did the best you could," he thanked her.

He looked at the shadow one last time, before folding it carefully and placing it in the nearest drawer.

"I shall keep it until whoever own it returns," he said solemnly, and then he looked over at Nana, "And you must tell me if he ever returns, Nana."

Nana barked her faithful agreement; she would do whatever Nick asked of her.

Nick crossed to the window and closed it.

"I fancy that this window is further open than I left it," he said to himself, "I guess whoever entered must have left this way." He looked down. "It is an awfully long way down, but the oak tree is close enough to the window to be used, I suppose."

He locked the window soundly, before readying himself for sleep. Nana barked happily and nuzzled at his hand. Nick looked down at her.

"Well, Nana, I do hope that the owner of the shadow returns soon," he remarked.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed the start of this story, and if you did, please leave a review to tell me what you thought :) **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, here's the second chapter :) I had a wonderful wonderful response to the last chapter, so thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed or favourited this story!**

**Also, I just thought I should mention that this is set in the early 1900s, like Peter Pan, just to stop any confusion.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

In the end, Nick did not have to wait very long for the owner of the shadow to return, in fact, he only had to wait three days.

Mr and Mrs Schuester had announced to the children that they would attending a dinner party that night, and that Nick was to be in charge; of course, Nick was always in charge, so this order was barely necessary.

However, our story was almost ended when Mr Schuester debated whether or not to let Nana into the house or tie her up in her kennel. If he had let her stay in the house, then no doubt she would have guarded Nick's room very carefully, and therefore, no one should have been able to get in or out; and for this story, we need both, for somebody will be getting in, while somebody will also be getting out.

Fortunately, at an opportune moment, Nana skidded on some mud brought in by a child earlier, and she smeared the mud further around the house by accident, including almost on Mr Schuester's shoes, and therefore, he decided that she should stay outside in her kennel until the mess had been cleared. Nick had promised that he would keep an eye on her, and said that the children should feel safer with Nana in the house, but Mr Schuester had refused to relent in his decision and had told Nick that he would do a better job than a dog.

And then he'd clapped Nick on the back and reminded him that he was almost an adult anyway, and that he could make it on his own for one more night.

So that was what Nick was contemplating when he got himself ready for bed that night.

He was almost an adult. Tomorrow was his eighteenth birthday; well, the eighteenth anniversary of his abandonment on the orphanage doorstep, but that was as good a birthday as any.

Tomorrow, he would be eighteen and therefore, he would have to leave the orphanage and make his own way in the world. That was the rule; as soon as any of the children turned eighteen, then they had to leave. Not that the rule had actually been in place before, but Nick was the eldest and therefore, would be the first to go.

It wasn't anything to do with legality of guardianship once a child became an adult, no, it was because Mrs Schuester longed for babies and children to care for, and once Nick became too old, he would not want a mother's love in the same way that a smaller child would; or, at least, that was what Mrs Schuester had thought.

In truth, Nick did want a mother's love, but he would have much preferred the love of his actual mother; though now, through long term abandonment, he was not sure that he would easily forgive his mother, were they to ever come face to face with each other.

Now, I would not want you to think badly of Mr and Mrs Schuester, and I am almost certain that Nick would not want you to either, for they provided many children with shelter and food, when otherwise they would have had none; but they did not have the right connection with the children as they would have had, had the children been their own.

They also did not know how to encourage Nick to find his own path in life, for they had promised him a few pounds in money so that he could buy food and lodgings, but they had no given him anything else. Although, Nick still was grateful, for a few whole pounds was a lot of money, but while it would pay for his rent for some time, if he struggled to find a job, then the money would not last forever.

Nick had just settled down to sleep when a small plaintive cry interrupted the calm in his room. Sighing, he sat up and threw a shirt on quickly, before heading towards the nursery.

One of the youngest children was crying, clearly having woken from a nightmare. Nick hurriedly hushed her before she awoke the others.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked, wiping away the little girl's tears as he spoke.

The girl sniffed a little; she might have been a Mary or a Jane or a Wendy, but there were so many little girls in that orphanage and it was very hard to keep track of them all.

"I had a bad dream," she trembled slightly, looking at Nick with panic in her eyes, "You're leaving us, aren't you, Nicky?"

Nick looked at her sadly, and then hugged her.

"I have to," he said, "I'm not sure I want to yet, but I'm afraid that I have no choice."

"You'll come back and visit us, won't you?" the little girl asked, looking like she was about to burst into tears again.

"Of course," Nick promised, wondering whether it would be a promise that he would be able to keep.

The little girl appeared mildly pacified, and she allowed Nick to tuck her back into bed.

"Now, you'd better go back to sleep so that you're not too tired for tomorrow," he said, kissing her forehead gently and then standing up to leave the room.

"Nicky?" the girl called out softly, causing Nick to turn around from his position in the doorway.

"Yes?"

"You're my favourite, Nicky, I love you."

"I love you too," Nick said softly, gazing around the nursery at the other sleeping children. He loved all of them; they were like younger siblings to him, and he would miss them terribly.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Nick was comforting another child, Jeff was waiting for his opportunity to retrieve his shadow.

He'd been sitting on the oak tree by the Schuesters' household since Nana had been tied up in the yard; he'd been glad for that action on the behalf of Mr Schuester. Although he was sure that Nana was not entirely his enemy, he did not take slights to himself or his friends very lightly, and to have his entire shadow ripped off by an unknown pet made him of a predisposition to dislike the dog.

However, there had been a long interval between the time that Nana had been tied up and the time that the Schuesters had left their house, and in that time, Jeff had become rather paranoid that Nana could sense him. She'd barked rather insistently in the direction of the oak tree, but after Mr Schuester had told her to be quiet, she'd eventually become silent.

Jeff was pretty secure in the faith that it was too dark for him to be seen in the tree, and anyway, his clothes camouflaged him well, but had a light been brought closer to him, then he might have very well been discovered.

After what had seemed like days, but had actually been maybe an hour or two, for Jeff had never really been able to understand the concept of time, Mr and Mrs Schuester left their home, and walked to the end of the street, where they then entered the house on the right.

As soon as the door was closed on the pair, the windows to Nick's room were curiously blown open, and the first to enter was a rather small glowing figure, who was all of around six inches tall.

The figure darted around the room once, before returning to the window, after which Jeff also dropped noiselessly onto the floor.

"Is this room empty?" Jeff hissed to the small figure.

"Yes," the figure hissed back, settling on the top of the mirror so that it could look down on Jeff; clearly the only way to deal with being of barely any height at all.

"Are you sure, Seb?" Jeff asked warily, casting his eyes around the room, but seeing nothing but inky darkness.

The small figure huffed slightly, and crossed his arms.

"Why do you doubt everything I say?" he asked petulantly, "I'm perfectly good at my job, especially since it's about one of my only uses, because, you know, it's ever so useful to glow!"

"Alright, Sebastian," Jeff motioned for his friend to keep his voice down, "I get that you're bitter…"

"Oh, I'm bitter alright," the figure, clearly Sebastian, interrupted.

Jeff frowned.

"Could we please just find my shadow before we're discovered?" he asked.

Sebastian pouted, but decided to help Jeff by diving into the nearest drawer.

Jeff started at the bottom of the drawers, pulling out almost every article of clothing that he could find as he searched for his shadow; he was not purposefully trying to make a mess, but he was so engrossed in his task that he barely noticed what he was doing.

"Found it!" Jeff crowed in joy as he pulled the shadow that he wanted from the drawer that Nick had left it in. Unfortunately, in his elation, as he had done previously, and would most likely do again, he crowed rather too loudly, and Sebastian shushed him too late.

"Who's there?" Nick's slightly alarmed voice rang out in the darkness of the bedroom.

"Idiot!" Sebastian hissed to Jeff, who spun around at the sound of his friend's voice, but failed to find his light.

"I seem to think that it was you who said that the room was empty!" Jeff shot back but Sebastian just laughed and did not reveal himself.

"I said, who's there?" Nick repeated.

And then, before Jeff could react, there was the sound of shuffling and Nick had flicked the light switch so that the room was bathed in a warm glow. Nick had not always been supportive of the electric lights, one of the few new features to have been added to the house in recent years, as they always seemed to be going out at inconvenient times, but at that moment, he was intensely grateful for them.

The light illuminated Jeff, who was stood in the middle of the room, clutching his shadow in both hands.

"Oh, you're the person who lost the shadow," was Nick's first comment to Jeff, he held out his hand, "Nick Duval."

"Jeff Sterling," Jeff replied, somehow finding it in him to respond to Nick, but was still mildly confused when the boy offered him his hand.

Recognition sparked in Nick's eyes, he'd been almost certain that he knew the boy standing in front of him, but he hadn't been willing to fully believe it until he had confirmation. But now he knew, and Jeff was staring at his outstretched hand in puzzlement.

"You're supposed to shake it," Nick explained, lowering his hand slowly when Jeff gave him a blank look. "Never mind."

Jeff just gaped at Nick, being still bewildered by the shaking of hands concept and the fact that Nick had forgotten to put his shirt back on when he got up.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked, looking at Jeff carefully, "Is something wrong? Apart from the fact that you appear have to become detached from your shadow, that is."

"Er, I…you…" Jeff stuttered, motioning to Nick's bare chest.

Nick looked down and blushed violently.

"Oh, sorry, about that," he apologised hastily, feeling slightly mortified that Jeff had been quite obviously staring. "Is that better?"

"Yes, I…thank you," Jeff stumbled over his words, "Not that I didn't want to look at you, of course…no, wait, that's not what I meant…I…" He sighed and decided to stop talking.

Nick laughed at the other boy, and fancied that he heard a quiet chuckle from somewhere else in the room as well, but to what his eyes could see, there was no one else there.

"Would you like me to do something about your shadow?" Nick asked, "I don't know much about shadows, but I suppose sewing it on might work."

"Sewing?" Jeff asked sceptically, "Won't that hurt?"

Nick considered this idea, but since he'd never had to sew anybody's shadow back on before, he was not entirely sure.

"I guess it might," he said, "Are you okay with that?"

Jeff nodded bravely; he'd faced a lot worse than a needle, and anyway, he wasn't one to admit to his own weaknesses, especially not in front of strangers to whom he'd already embarrassed himself.

"Well, here goes," Nick said, taking a needle from the sewing box next to his bed and threading it, before sewing the shadow back onto Jeff's foot.

It did hurt, in the end, but Jeff willed himself not to cry out in pain, but he was sure that Nick had guessed that it had hurt him, for he awkwardly patted the other boy on the back as he got up.

Jeff hopped around the room a few times, before declaring that his shadow was back to normal and then throwing himself at Nick in gratitude.

"Thank you so much!" he cried, hugging Nick so tightly round his neck that Nick feared that his head might fall off.

"You're very welcome," Nick said, prising Jeff off him and sitting down next to the boy instead.

Jeff was extremely pleased with the way the shadow had turned out, and he began wiggling his arms and legs around so that he could watch the shadow dancing behind him.

"Where did you learn to sew?" he demanded of Nick suddenly, "It's simply wonderful what you've done for my shadow! I shall be forever grateful for your sewing."

Nick laughed.

"I learnt to sew because the lady of the house…"

"Your mother?" Jeff asked eagerly.

"No, she's not my mother," Nick shook his head, and Jeff became strangely disappointed, "This is an orphanage, Jeff, I don't have a mother; or at least, not one that I know." He looked at Jeff curiously. "Say, Jeff, where's your mother?"

Jeff looked even more disheartened.

"I don't have a mother either," he said, before suddenly appearing much happier, "But who needs a mother, Nick? Without a mother it means that you can be free and do whatever you want; there are no rules, no curfews, no limitations." He got up and started almost dancing around.

Nick laughed.

"Have you never wanted a mother, Jeff?" he asked.

"I've never needed a mother," Jeff replied, still dancing around, "And I never will!"

Nick's expression hardened a little as a thought occurred to him.

"I suppose I shan't need a mother after tomorrow," he said, almost mournfully.

"Why tomorrow?" Jeff asked, ceasing his dancing to face Nick.

"I turn eighteen tomorrow," Nick explained, and Jeff screwed his face up in displeasure at the notion of growing up, "How old are you, Jeff?"

Jeff screwed his face up again, but this time in thought, as he tried to work out how old he actually was.

Eventually he gave up.

"I don't know," he said, "I could be any age, but all I know is that I'm young! I've always been young!"

Nick watched the blonde boy in amusement as he bounded around the room again.

Suddenly, he stopped and stood in front of Nick very seriously.

"Say, Nick, I didn't give you anything for sewing my shadow back on, is there anything that you want?"

Jeff's question completely stumped Nick, he had no idea what he wanted nor whether Jeff could actually give him anything of any use to him.

And then he came to a rather bold idea, and before he could stop himself, he'd blurted it out.

"Could I give you a kiss?"

* * *

**A/N: Well, you shall have to see about Jeff's reply next chapter - though if you've seen or read Peter Pan, then you'll know how he responds!**

**Also, I wonder if anybody can tell me the links between the possible names I gave for the little girl? It's not exactly a hard connection to make, I guess, but I'm just curious to see if people know all of them :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry about the fact that I haven't updated in a few days, I was hoping to update on Thursday but I got rather sidetracked. Also, I met R5 yesterday, and let me tell you, they are the most lovely people ever and I got to speak to them afterwards and I didn't embarrass myself, so that's a good thing!**

**Thank you to the awesome response that I've had to this story, you guys are just so nice! Also, ****_Cami_****, I couldn't PM you, but I wanted to say how happy your review made me, I'm glad that you're enjoying this story and the whole Peter Pan concept; also, I just had to have Sebastian as Tinker Bell, I seriously couldn't resist it!**

**And, on another note, ****_Conspiratio_**** has reached over 2,000 views, which made me very happy to see! Thank you, you wonderful people!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Could I give you a kiss?"

Nick's eyes widened in horror as he realised what he'd said, and he mentally prepared himself for rejection from his newfound friend.

However, Jeff didn't reject him, instead he held out his hand, as though waiting for Nick to hand over the kiss to him. In a moment of panic, it occurred to Nick that Jeff actually didn't know what a kiss was, and, rather than explaining the concept, Nick placed the nearest object, a thimble, in Jeff's open palm.

Fortunately, Jeff looked mightily pleased with his new gift, and he tucked it into a pocket for safe keeping.

"Now, I suppose I should give you a kiss too," he told Nick, who almost leant towards him expectantly, but recovered just in time to remember to hold out his hand instead.

Jeff plucked an acorn button from his jacket and placed it in Nick's hand.

"Do you like it?" he asked, and the look of pure hope that he'd pleased Nick, made Nick smile uncontrollably.

"I love it, Jeff," he said, nodding hurriedly as the blonde boy's face lit up with joy. "I shall put it on this chain and wear it around my neck," Nick added, picking up a chain from the sewing box and threading the acorn onto it. As he fastened it around his neck, if it were possible, Jeff's smile got even brighter.

In fact, it was so bright, that, had the electric lights been extinguished, Jeff's smile would have outshone even the bright glow of Sebastian. However, the lights were currently on and Sebastian was nowhere to be seen. The whereabouts of the mischievous pixie will be discovered soon enough, but at the moment in which we find ourselves, Jeff is too busy talking away to notice the absence of his friend.

"You've got a very nice house," the blonde was saying appreciatively to Nick, "Of course, I shouldn't want to stay inside for very long. I like going outside and having adventures, do you like adventures?"

He paused for a second and Nick opened his mouth to tell him that he'd never really had any adventures in London, especially since the Schuesters were so paranoid about losing one of their charges that they rarely took the children on outings. However, Jeff was not actually waiting for an answer, and he continued speaking regardless.

"I'm always having adventures where I live," he said, "I live in Neverland, it's a lovely place. It's an island, and is so very hard to reach from the mainland, I suppose you've never heard of it or been there."

"I've been there in my dreams," Nick managed to add in before Jeff could talk over him.

The blonde boy stopped mid-sentence and stared at Nick, his eyes wide open in slight shock.

"In your dreams?" he asked in awe.

Jeff was completely unaware that his home had made it into someone else's dream, and, in truth, it was doing nothing for his ego; first, he'd discovered someone telling stories featuring him, and now the same person dreamed about him, or, at least, his home.

The blonde boy sat up a little straighter, revelling in the attention that Nick was giving him.

Nick, meanwhile, was fascinated by the boy in front of him; he'd always dreamed of Jeff, yet was never entirely sure whether he was an actual person or whether his mind had created him. He should have guessed that the boy was far too vivid in his head to have just been made up on the whim of a dream.

"Yes, in my dreams," Nick said slowly, as the boy next to him almost bounced up and down in his seat on the bed, "There's you and lots of other people, but I don't really see their faces; I saw yours though, quite clearly, in fact. I've seen the lagoon as well, with the mermaids, but they never appear unless I'm hiding. And the pirates, though I've never seen them up close; and then there's the Red Indian camp."

Jeff actually was bouncing now, as he leapt up and started clapping his hands together happily.

"You must have seen the Warblers," he said, and when Nick gave him a confused look, he elaborated obligingly. "The Warblers are my friends; they're orphans, like you and me, and they help me with my adventures." Jeff paused. "Not that I need help, obviously, they just like to come with me and it's fun, and…"

He stopped again as he watched Nick's face crease into a huge smile and he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" he demanded to know.

"Just you," Nick waved his hands around, "You're very excitable, and it's rather endearing."

Jeff blushed. He then proceeded to panic because he wasn't entirely sure when the last time he'd blushed was, and he was worried that something was wrong with him. He raised his hands to his face and looked at Nick with wide eyes.

"Nick, why does my face feel like it's on fire?" he asked.

Nick gave him a strange look, although after the incident with the kiss, he probably should have realised that Jeff didn't understand some things.

"You're blushing, Jeff," he explained, and the other boy looked at him in horror, as though it was some sort of curse. "There's nothing wrong with you," Nick amended quickly, "It's just something that happens when you're either embarrassed about something you've done or embarrassed by a compliment that someone has given you."

Jeff grinned slowly as he realised what was happening.

"Thank you for the compliment, Nick," he crowed, jumping around some more, "Will you compliment me again?"

Nick laughed.

"You can't ask people for compliments," he said.

"Of course, I can," Jeff said, "I'm Jeff Sterling, I can do whatever I want; all the Warblers do what I want them to do."

"That doesn't mean that you can ask people to compliment you, though," Nick pointed out.

Jeff pouted, and turned the pout on Nick, whose resolution practically withered under Jeff's gaze.

"And then you use that look," Nick sighed, "And it's adorable."

Jeff crowed again and danced around the room.

"And I set myself up for that one," Nick groaned, as Jeff stuck his tongue out and kept bouncing around.

"You know what," Jeff said suddenly, again surprising Nick with the quickness at which he could change from excitable to almost serious, "You could have been a Warbler, Nick. You're an orphan and were left at an orphanage, at least, that's what happened to all the other Warblers; they were abandoned by their mothers and the fairies took them in."

"The fairies?" Nick asked, his brow furrowing in confusion over the fact that Jeff was now talking about fairies. He'd never say that he didn't believe in fairies, and he was quite happy to say that they would have existed in Neverland, but the thought of the fairies being in England, especially in London, startled him, somewhat.

"Of course," Jeff nodded eagerly, barely stopping to consider the idea that Nick might not have had any sort of contact with a fairy before, "There's lots of them in Neverland, and many of them live over here on the mainland from time to time; Kensington Gardens is very popular with them. They can be a funny sort of folk, and often keep themselves very strictly to themselves. However, there is supposed to be one fairy for every boy and every girl in this world; think about it, Nick, there's a fairy out there that's just for you."

Nick wasn't entirely keen on this idea, as the first image that came to mind was an illustration from one of the younger children's picture books; an old relic of some form that had been abandoned, along with the child. The image had been a rather battered and worn drawing of a female fairy, who had appeared to have been dressed in nothing more than an over-sized leaf; Nick was mildly concerned as to the nature of the picture for children, but apparently no one else was troubled by it. Nick had nothing against the fairy, but he found a semi-scantily clad fairy rather unappealing, and he had a moment of panic, in which he was worried that Jeff was going to produce one for his very own keeping.

"In fact," Jeff continued, completely oblivious to Nick's internal discomfort, "There's a fairy in this room right now."

Nick's small gasp of surprise was completely hidden by sharp cry of indignation.

"I'm not a fairy, I'm a pixie!" cried a shrill voice.

Nick jumped violently at the appearance of the new voice, while Jeff just rolled his eyes.

"I should have remembered that's a sore point with him," he said quietly to Nick, before turning and addressing the rest of the room. "Sebastian, where are you?"

I promised that the location of the pixie in question would be revealed at some point, and here it is; Sebastian's trademark glow suddenly emerged from under a pile of cloth in one of the upturned drawers.

"I'm here," he said, hovering in mid-air, around a foot away from the other two boys.

"Oh, good, I was starting to wonder whether I'd lost you," Jeff remarked, "What were you doing in that drawer, anyway?"

For the first time, Nick looked down at the mess which had been made from the contents of his drawers; he'd been too busy concentrating beforehand on Jeff.

And then he noticed which drawer that Sebastian had gotten out of, and he blushed profusely. Sebastian noticed, however, and smirked.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked, looking entirely puzzled as he glanced at each of them in turn.

"Nothing," Nick said hastily, just as Sebastian said:

"This is Nick's underwear drawer."

Jeff looked between the two of them again, before giggling uncontrollably. Nick reached over and slapped his arm.

"Stop laughing," he muttered, as Sebastian also joined in.

"It's funny," Jeff protested, but he did eventually stop laughing, "Anyway, Sebastian, I thought I'd told you that it was rude to go rifling through people's belongings."

Sebastian snorted.

"You've never told me that," he said, ignoring Jeff's silent plea to go along with his suggestion, "What's so special about your new friend that I can't go through his clothes?"

"This is Nick," Jeff decided to properly introduce the two, "Nick, this is Sebastian, sadly, he's my friend and I have to put up with him."

Sebastian looked unimpressed.

"Well, if you insist on becoming friends with this great lump over here, then I shall have to put up with both of you," he said.

Nick frowned in confusion; he'd always been under the impression that fairies were a kindly race, but then again, Sebastian was actually a pixie, so maybe that accounted for his cold welcome.

Actually, Nick, there is a reason for Sebastian's attitude, but you'll have to wait for that; it's a good story though, and completely justified, yet it won't be revealed just now.

"Sebastian," Jeff looked rather shocked, "Would you mind not being so rude to Nick, please? What's he done to you?"

Sebastian did not deign himself to reply, and instead darted to somewhere in the room where Nick was not able to see him.

"Sorry about him," Jeff said apologetically, looking downright embarrassed.

"Don't worry," Nick flashed him a grin, "You didn't have to defend me. Actually, Jeff, I should give you something in return."

"What would you give me?" Jeff asked excitedly.

"A thimble," Nick decided, and he leaned forward to gently kiss Jeff's cheek.

Jeff blushed again, and immediately decided that he liked thimbles very much; so much so, that he leaned forward and placed one on Nick's cheek.

Nick smiled subtly as Jeff kissed him, and then jerked back in surprise as he felt something pinch his arm spitefully.

"What was that?" he asked, raising his arm to inspect the possible injury, "Jeff, I think something pinched me!"

Jeff sighed.

"Sebastian, I know you seem to have something against Nick, but would you please refrain from harming him?" he asked.

"You're no fun," Sebastian grumbled, as he flew away to inspect the contents of Nick's drawers again; Nick couldn't even be bothered to ask him to stop.

Nick sat looking at Jeff for a moment, as the other boy twirled the thimble that he'd given him around in his fingers. The other boy seemed perfectly content, as though sitting in a stranger's bedroom at night was entirely natural to him.

"Say, Jeff, why was your shadow in this room anyway?" Nick asked curiously, "Why did you come to this house in the first place? There are plenty of others that are decidedly nicer than this one."

Jeff looked up from playing with the thimble, and fixed Nick with a thoughtful gaze.

"I came here because of your stories, Nick," he said simply.

"My stories?"

"I love hearing the way you tell them," Jeff explained, "For example, the one about the girl who lost her shoe and then ran away from the ball."

"Cinderella?" Nick asked with a smile; he was rather pleased with the praise for his storytelling.

"Yes!" Jeff cried excitably, "Although most of them appear to be about very complicated girls, and I think I'd prefer to deal with just boys."

Nick grinned.

"I know what you mean," he said.

Jeff nodded enthusiastically.

"And I love the stories you tell about me," he said, "You make me sound even braver than I actually am." Nick laughed slightly at Jeff's clear confidence in his own ability. "Although you change my name in your stories, and it confuses me; is there something wrong with my name?"

"Of course there's nothing wrong with your name," Nick laughed, "I just…this sounds ridiculous, but I wanted you to be my secret." Jeff started to grin. "I didn't exactly want to share you."

Jeff smiled brightly at the thought of being someone's secret; he liked the feeling very much, and if Nick was the cause of that feeling, then he wanted to keep the boy with him at all times.

Nick, however, for his troubles of telling Jeff his reasoning behind altering his name, received a sharp tug on his hair from Sebastian.

"What is wrong with you?" he asked the pixie angrily, finally losing his cool exterior and turning on the other boy.

Sebastian shrugged; it was one of those nonchalant shrugs that makes you want to slap the person completing that action.

"Ignore him," Jeff said, glaring at Sebastian.

Nick agreed to do so, but it was rather difficult when you were being physically harmed by a boy who was barely six inches high.

"You know what, Nick?" Jeff turned to the other boy with a slightly mischievous look on his face, "The Warblers and I don't know any stories in Neverland; sometimes I tell them the ones you tell, but they're never as good as when you make them up."

Nick looked sympathetically at Jeff; he loved stories and therefore, he was struggling to imagine life without the chance to read a good novel or at least hear a decent tale.

"We love hearing the stories though," Jeff said, looking at Nick rather craftily now, "In fact, all the Warblers want to hear you tell a story."

Suddenly, it occurred to Nick what Jeff was aiming for, and while he felt rather thrilled to be asked, he couldn't just abandon his life in favour of telling some strange boys about fairytales, could he?

"Jeff, I'm very flattered that you enjoy my stories," Nick began, "But I don't think…"

"Think about it, Nick," Jeff cried, cutting the other boy's excuse short, "While you're there, we could have wonderful adventures, and think about the pirates, and the mermaids, and the Red Indians; they won't just be dreams anymore, they'll be reality!"

"Well…" Nick trailed away as he thought, "I would love to come with you, Jeff, but I can't just leave the children behind." He thought about the little girl from earlier. She was so desperate for him not to leave, could he just abandon them in the favour of going away with Jeff? Could he leave behind the people he'd been friends with for years, to go away with a boy he'd met mere hours ago?

"But they're not your children, Nicky," Jeff turned persuasive, even finding a nickname that Nick wasn't exactly against, "There are lots of other people here to look after them. Anyway, they've heard your stories, and the Warblers haven't." He paused. "So, what do you say?"

"There's someone coming this way," Nick replied, and Jeff's face creased into a frown.

"That's not an answer," he pouted.

Nick shook his head and gestured wildly.

"No, I mean that there's someone heading towards this room, so hide!" he said as loudly as he dared.

Jeff finally realised what he meant when there was a loud creak somewhere out on the landing, and the sound of muffled voices.

Nick dived towards the light switch and extinguished the bright bulb, before jumping back into his bed and pulling the covers up around him so that it looked like he was asleep. Sebastian's own glow was nowhere to be seen, doubtless inside a drawer somewhere.

And Jeff, well, Nick had no idea where Jeff had gone, but he hoped it was a decent enough hiding place.

* * *

**A/N: So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) Next chapter, unless I get carried away, should involve them actually getting somewhere within the plot line :)**

**Thank you for reading and please leave a review to tell me what you thought! **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, well, here's Chapter Four, which I hope you enjoy! I've had a wonderful response to this story, and I am thoroughly enjoying writing it, so thank you everybody for reading this!**

**Also, I want to thank ****_Eraman_**** for the cover artwork of this story, which is a pixie version of Sebastian :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

Just as the footsteps halted by his door and mumbled voices could be heard outside, Nick shifted himself further under his quilt, and found that his legs became tangled with someone else's. Nick's eyes widened in shock; who had got into bed with him?

"It's just me," Jeff's voice whispered from somewhere very close to Nick's ear. His warm breath tickled the side of Nick's face, causing the brunette to shiver unconsciously.

Jeff giggled.

"Are you okay?" he whispered.

Nick tried not to think about the fact that Jeff was actually lying barely any distance away from him. Jeff didn't even know what a kiss was, so he clearly didn't have any sort of idea about how inappropriate it was for him to just climb into bed with Nick to hide. Couldn't he have hidden underneath the bed instead?

"I'm fine," Nick hissed, "Just stay quiet and make it the fact that there are two of us in here as inconspicuous as possible."

Nick felt the pillow shift as Jeff nodded, before the blonde boy actually slid further down the bed so that his head couldn't be seen, and then he practically plastered himself against Nick's back. Nick stifled a shocked squeak as felt Jeff move; what was that boy doing?

Nick was contemplating whether to tell Jeff to go and find another hiding place, when the door handle turned and the door swung open.

As silently as possible, Kurt and Blaine entered, both of them looking around the darkened room as their eyes slowly adjusted.

"Nick?" Blaine asked, his voice hushed, "Nick, are you awake?"

Jeff did a very convincing imitation of a sleeping person, complete with slightly heavier and relaxed breathing; Nick had to resist the urge to kick the boy behind him, but that would have utterly ruined their hiding.

"Blaine, come on," Kurt said, reaching out for Blaine's arm in the darkness, "Let's just let him sleep."

"But one the younger children is crying," Blaine protested, "Kurt, you know that Nick can settle any of them down better than we can."

Kurt ran a hand through his hair.

"I know," he sighed, "But it's Nick's last night in the orphanage; we should let him get some rest before tomorrow."

Eventually, Blaine nodded his agreement, and let himself be led from the room.

Almost immediately after the door had been closed again, Sebastian flew out of his hiding place and headed for the light switch. The room was bathed in the cold brightness again, and both Nick and Jeff sat up; Jeff was still unnervingly close to the other boy.

Sebastian regarded the two of them with both amusement and slight annoyance. Nick frowned at the pixie's expression but decided it was better not to question it. Wise decision, Nick, for with Sebastian, and often most magical folk, it's better not to question anything, for their answers can leave many a person more confused than when they began.

Pushing his quilt aside, Nick stood up and looked down at Jeff, who still had the blanket cocooned around himself.

"Was that the best hiding place that you could think of?" he asked, looking at the blonde boy with slight exasperation.

Jeff gave him a very innocent smile.

"It worked, didn't it?" he said.

"Yes, it's just that…" Nick sighed, catching sight of Sebastian giving him a warning glance. Nick frowned a little at the pixie, who just shrugged. "Never mind," Nick trailed away.

Jeff looked mildly confused, but then he grinned and leapt out of the bed so fast that Nick barely saw him move; in fact, if he hadn't thought the notion ridiculous, he would have said that Jeff had flown.

"But don't you see what this means, Nick?" he cried, grabbing both of Nick's hands and pulling him around the room with him, "You can come with me to Neverland now!"

"No, I can't," Nick shook his head.

"But you can," Jeff said insistently, "This is your last night in the orphanage, after this, you'll have to leave and find your way in the world; you don't want to have to face that, do you?"

Nick looked pensive; he had been fearing the moment when he'd have to step out into the world alone.

"But I have to grow up, Jeff," he said finally, "Everybody has to grow up at some point."

Jeff looked mildly offended by the idea of growing up and he shook his head wildly in distaste.

"You're wrong," he said, "Not everybody has to grow up; I haven't grown up, I've been this age for a lifetime."

Nick's eyes widened in surprise; Jeff was practically ageless, and yet he appeared younger than Nick himself.

"Don't you want to stay young forever?" Jeff continued to almost plead, "We can go on those adventures that I told you about; we can go on them _together_!"

Nick was thrown for a moment when Jeff talked about the two of them as a pair; this boy really was starting to get to him.

"But Jeff," Sebastian's voice cut in, "You heard what Nick said about having to stay with the children. Why don't you just let him stay?"

Nick didn't know whether it was the completely adorable expression that Jeff was now giving him, or the sudden desire to annoy Sebastian, or partly both, but he grinned widely and nodded.

"Actually, Jeff," he said, "I'd like to come with you." He snuck a quick look at Sebastian, who looked rather displeased with him, but was fortunately staying a safe distance away.

Jeff crowed in delight, and spun Nick around the room a few times, before pulling the other boy in for a tight hug.

"I knew you'd say yes, I knew it!" he cried, appearing very confident in his persuading abilities. "Now, come on, let's go!"

Nick was jerked forward as Jeff grabbed his wrist and pulled him across the room to the window.

"Wait, Jeff!" he cried, pulling away from the other boy's grip on him, "The door is the other way."

Jeff frowned.

"But the window is so much easier," he said, trying to drag Nick back in the other direction.

Now it was Nick's turn to frown.

"Jeff, how exactly are we getting to Neverland?" he asked.

"By flying, of course," Jeff replied, as though it were the most natural occurrence in the world.

Nick gaped. He was speechless for a few seconds, before regaining control of himself.

"I don't know how to fly," he said.

Jeff smiled.

"Well, that's easiest thing to do ever," he said, "You'll get used to it in no time at all."

Nick looked sceptical, but he decided to nod slowly.

"So, how do I begin?"

"Well, you just think happy thoughts," Jeff said, grinning at Nick as he leaned back and just floated a few feet above the bedroom floor.

Nick watched him in amazement, before Jeff motioned for him to try. Nick squeezed his eyes shut tightly and tried to think of something that made him happy. What about his favourite food? Now all Nick could think about was the smell of toffee apples; he'd developed a particular love for the sweet food when he'd visited a racecourse a few months ago.

No, toffee apples aren't going to work, Nick, because you're still on the ground. What about people? Who makes you happy, Nick? Nick thought about this for a moment. Kurt and Blaine's faces swam in front of his eyes, but they still weren't enough to lift him into the air.

Jeff.

Nick was so startle by the force of the thought of the blonde boy that he almost lost all concentration. Did Jeff made Nick happy? Yes, Nick decided that he did; Jeff had an infectious energy about it him that just made him so fun to be around.

As Nick delved deeper into his feelings for the blonde boy, he felt a weightless sensation pass over him. Carefully, he opened his eyes and discovered that he was hovering a few inches from the floor.

"You're doing it!" Jeff cried joyfully, clapping his hands together.

"I'm doing it!" Nick repeated Jeff's words.

"No, you're not," Sebastian muttered under his breath from where he'd perched himself on top of the mirror, but both Nick and Jeff were too busy squealing in excitement to hear him.

Now, although Sebastian is technically being spiteful, he is right, Nick is definitely not flying. For, you see, the only way to properly fly is to be sprinkled in pixie or fairy dust, as happy thoughts cannot sustain a person for very long, no matter how happy they are.

"So, what are you thinking of?" Jeff asked brightly.

The question shocked Nick, who blushed violently, choked on his own breath, and then collapsed on the floor in a heap. Jeff regarded him thoughtfully.

"Well, that didn't work," he said eventually, reaching out to offer Nick his hand. Nick clasped it gratefully and hauled himself to his feet. "I guess fairy dust really is the only way to fly."

"How many times do I have to remind you that I'm a pixie?"

"You knew happy thoughts wouldn't work, yet you tried them anyway?"

Sebastian and Nick spoke at the same time, completely obscuring each other's sentences and causing Jeff to be oblivious to both of them.

"Right, Sebastian, get down from there, will you?" Jeff called, motioning for his friend to get off the mirror and fly down to his outstretched hand.

"What makes you think I'm going to bother moving?" Sebastian asked, "If _he_ wants to fly, he can come up here and get me himself!" He smirked. "Oh, wait, he can't!"

"Why do fairies have no manners?" Jeff wondered.

"I'm a pixie!" Sebastian cried angrily, flying off the mirror in a rage.

Jeff reached out and snatched his friend from the air, before tipping him upside down and practically shaking him over Nick's head. Sebastian squealed like a small girl, and struggled against Jeff's grip, but it was to no avail.

"There," Jeff said happily, raising his hands up in the air once he was finished, and accidentally throwing Sebastian over one shoulder. The pixie tumbled through the air for a bit, and then righted himself just before he hit the wall.

"I am actually questioning all of my life choices right now," Sebastian groaned, holding his head as the entire world span in front of him, "I have no idea how I ended up in these circumstances." He paused to see if either Nick or Jeff had heard him, but instead Nick was too busy getting used to flying, and Jeff was too busy helping Nick. "No, it's fine," Sebastian said sarcastically, "Don't worry about the best friend that you practically just threw at a wall!"

Nick's laughter as Jeff wrapped an arm around him and pulled him through the air drowned out Sebastian's sentence.

"Stupid human," the pixie said vehemently.

While Sebastian sulked, Nick was enjoying being taught by Jeff how to fly; he especially liked the fact that, every few minutes, Jeff would wrap an arm around his waist tightly and spin the two of them around the room together. Nick knew he shouldn't have started thinking about Jeff like that, but he had an undeniable attraction to the other boy, and the fact that Jeff was so innocent and oblivious made it worse.

"Come on, let's go!" Jeff cried suddenly, pulling Nick with him towards the window.

"Wait," Nick said, pulling Jeff back.

"You don't want to go now?" Jeff pouted.

Nick shook his head and laughed.

"Of course I want to go," he said, "But could you at least let me find some shoes and a jacket first, please?" He dived under his bed quickly and pulled out a pair of shoes, and then took his jacket from the hook on the door. "Now, I'm ready."

Jeff grinned widely, and grabbed the other boy's hand, before jumping back up to the window, and pulling the other boy out into the darkness.

Nick's heart skipped a beat as he looked down at the garden below him. He was flying! He clutched tightly to Jeff's hand, mildly concerned that if he let go, then he would be plunged down to the ground, but Jeff kept pulling him along; faster and faster until there was no turning back.

Jeff, it seemed, was a professional in flying, and, much to Nick's envy, could travel at any speed he wanted, and was able to just float in the air. At one point, Jeff encouraged Nick to try, but the brunette just ended up falling. Fortunately, Jeff caught him just in time, and Nick considered falling again later, just so that he could end up lying Jeff's arms and pressed against the other boy's chest again. But he decided that was highly inappropriate, and Sebastian had been giving him glares for a while and he didn't want to antagonise the pixie anymore than he already had.

He still hadn't worked out what Sebastian's problem with him was. He considered jealousy, and concluded that was it; Sebastian was jealous of the attention that Jeff was giving Nick, and therefore, was trying to make Nick as uncomfortable as possible.

Sadly, Nick, you've come to the wrong conclusion, Sebastian is not jealous of you at all, not in the slightest, but he isn't happy with you. No, he doesn't like what you're doing one bit, and he's not going to stop at anything to prevent you from making it to Neverland.

It's good thing, I suppose, that Jeff is so innocent, for if he hadn't have been, then he wouldn't have received a thimble, and he wouldn't have given Nick an acorn button, and that acorn button wouldn't now be around Nick's neck. For that is a very important acorn button; beware, Sebastian for you are about to be undone by an acorn and your own bad temper.

* * *

"Nick? Nick, are you awake?" Blaine's voice called to an empty room. "We really need you this time, you're the only one who knows how to calm anyone down after a nightmare."

"Blaine, turn the light on," Kurt said, "We can't see anything in here."

Blaine obliged, and the room was bathed in a harsh glow.

"What's been happening in here?" Kurt asked, his mouth wide open in shock as he took in the trashed drawers, the empty bed and the window fluttering open in the night breeze.

"Do you think it was a burglary?" Blaine asked, looking as though he was about to run for the telephone at any second, "Do you think we should call the police?"

Kurt shook his head. He wandered further into the room and surveyed the damage, before crouching down to check underneath Nick's bed.

"Nick's shoes are gone," he stated, "And his jacket isn't on the door. Blaine, I think he walked out of here voluntarily. Now, why would he do that?"

Meanwhile, Blaine had crossed to the open window, and was gazing out of it as though he had entered a trance.

"Kurt," he half-whispered, "I don't think Nick walked out of here."

"He didn't?" Kurt frowned, turning to face the other boy, "How did he get out of here then?"

Blaine paused before answering.

"Kurt, I think he flew."

Kurt didn't even bother voicing his confusion, he just sat down next to Blaine at the window, and looked up at where the other boy was pointing.

Against the bright silhouette of the moon, they could clearly make out the figures of two boys, both flying side by side.

"That's Nick," Kurt breathed out slowly, "And who's the other one?"

Blaine thought for a moment, before realisation spread across his features.

"It's Peter Pan."

* * *

"How much further, Jeff?" Nick asked, he was already rather worn out from the flying, yet the blonde boy seemed to be full of endless energy, and he kept turning somersaults in the air to prove it.

It also wasn't helping Nick, in any way, how Sebastian would occasionally soar past him and accidentally kick him. The kicks weren't exactly very painful on their own, but the pixie had a knack of kicking him repeatedly in the same place, and Nick was sure that he was gradually building up to bruising his arm.

"Not much further," Jeff said, as he bobbed in mid-air beside Nick, "The way to Neverland is actually very simple."

Nick looked doubtful.

"It is?"

"Of course, second star to the right and straight on till morning."

* * *

**A/N: So, they've finally left the orphanage and are on their way to Neverland! Also, I want to point out that it wasn't a typo when I wrote 'Peter Pan', because that's what Nick has told the others in his stories :)**

**Also, I will write a oneshot set in either this AU, my Conspiratio AU or, if you really want, another historical AU, for the first person to tell me the film from which the whole idea of toffee apples came from (think about it very carefully) - if no one can get it, I will give you a clue next chapter!**

**Thank you for reading this, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Onto Chapter 5, and I'm so glad that people are enjoying this story, because I've had some lovely responses so far, so thank you :)**

**There's a clue at the end for the competition from last chapter, as well as a few points about a few terms and names in this chapter, though if you want to ask me anything else, then don't hesitate to do so, because I am quite happy to answer anything.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Second star to the right and straight on till morning."

The more Nick thought about it, the more Jeff's instructions were becoming complicated. He could have sworn that they'd passed more than two stars now, but at least the journey appeared to just be to fly in a straight line until the island appeared.

Nick was about to completely give up and just follow Jeff blindly, no matter if they flew straight around the world and back to the orphanage, when the blonde boy halted suddenly in mid-air and shouted excitedly.

"There it is!"

Nick looked in the direction that Jeff was indicating, and, sure enough, there was the island laid out directly in front of them.

It was exactly the same as in Nick's dream. It felt like coming home.

"Nick, look at the lagoon," Jeff was hovering by his left shoulder and pointing out places of interest to him, "And just over there, you can see the smoke from the Red Indian camp."

Nick took everything that Jeff was saying in, and watched, mesmerised, as the clouds started to part in front of them, and more of the island was revealed.

"Let's go closer then," Jeff cried, taking Nick by the hand and pulling further downwards.

However, as they pushed through the cloud layer and dived down, the air became thicker and even Sebastian found himself having to force his way through. Eventually, they had to pull up short of the ground and catch their breath.

"They don't want us to land," Jeff said, actually sounding remarkably exhausted.

"Who's 'they'?" Nick asked. He was practically panting by the time he'd finished speaking, and was mildly concerned that if he lost his concentration, then he would just collapse and fall out of the sky; but then again, the weight of the air around them would probably hold him up.

Jeff didn't answer at first, instead he was giving Sebastian the instructions to fly on ahead and see what was happening down below. And so, struggling somewhat, the pixie disappeared into the cloud, and soon even his glow was gone from sight.

"What's happening, Jeff?" Nick asked warily, slowly starting to become aware that Neverland wasn't quite as harmless as he'd imagined it to be in his dreams.

"Captain Hunter Clarington," he spoke the name with a certain level of disgust and contempt only associated with those people that he felt utter hatred for.

The name wasn't unfamiliar to Nick, and he paled considerably. Hunter Clarington was a pirate feared by many a braver man than Nick. In fact, it was said that he was the only man that Barbecue feared, and even Flint had feared Barbecue.

Still, Jeff did not appear to be fazed by Hunter's reputation, instead, he was almost crowing as he continued to talk.

"I cut off one of his fingers, I did," he said excitably, "And fed it to a crocodile!"

"A crocodile?" Nick looked faintly worried at the thought of the island being inhabited by dangerous and vicious beasts.

Jeff nodded, a huge grin on his face.

"Which reminds me," he added quickly, "If we meet Hunter in open battle, then you must leave him to me."

"Of course," Nick said faintly, he wasn't planning to meet anyone in open battle, if he was honest, but he didn't have the heart to tell Jeff that he was slightly regretting his decision to accompany the other boy to Neverland.

At that point, Sebastian returned.

"Any news?" Jeff asked, looking more thrilled than worried about the prospect of bad news.

Sebastian replied in such a breathless rush, that both boys were left looking at him in confusion.

"Sorry?" Jeff asked, "I need you to breathe in between words, Sebastian."

Sebastian glared at him, but evened out his breathing so that he could speak properly.

"The pirates have Long Tom out," he repeated.

Jeff pursed his lips and nodded, while Nick looked at him in a panic.

"Who or what is Long Tom?" he asked.

"Oh, just a cannon," Sebastian said cheerfully, shooting Nick a fake grin.

"Alright, Seb," Jeff actually stepped in at that point, "Leave Nick alone." He paused. "Anyway, I don't know why you're so happy, it's your light that's making us so visible."

Sebastian pouted.

"Can't he turn it off?" Nick asked quietly.

"It only goes out when he sleeps," Jeff explained.

"Can he go to sleep then?"

"Pixies can only sleep when they're sleepy."

"That's annoying."

"I know."

"I'm still here, you know!" Sebastian cried suddenly, as, much to his annoyance, Nick and Jeff both managed to dissolve into giggles. "Hey! This is serious!"

Eventually, Jeff recovered enough to grab Sebastian and place him in the bottom of his hat.

"Stay there," he ordered, "Your light is hidden now."

Sebastian was silent, although the fabric of the hat might have hidden his indignant reply.

"Here," Jeff passed the hat over to Nick, "Do you mind carrying Sebastian for a bit?"

"No problem," Nick shrugged and took the hat.

Meanwhile, inside, Sebastian was fuming to himself. He didn't trust Nick not to drop him suddenly, or just forget about him and accidentally let him fall out. He was actually so paranoid about being neglected, that he was considering flying out of the hat just to talk to Jeff about his disagreements with travelling arrangements.

However, any plans he had made were shattered when there was an almighty boom from somewhere below, and the sound of rushing air, as a cannonball flew directly at them.

"They've fired!" Jeff yelled completely unnecessarily, for by now the cannonball had passed, and the force by which it was travelling had thrown them all off course.

Jeff was blown further out to sea, while Nick was blown upwards towards one of the mountains.

"Jeff!" Nick cried, looking around wildly for his friend.

But it was to no avail, for Jeff was nowhere in sight, and instead, Nick was left with an angry Sebastian.

* * *

Neverland has always been, and always will be, a very diverse island; the people there could not have varied more if they'd tried to create a group of people who would clash at every given opportunity.

At this precise moment, they are all waiting for Jeff to arrive home. The Warblers are waiting for Jeff so that they can see their friend and he can give them their next few orders. The pirates are waiting for Jeff, because then the Warblers will stop with their searching and they can be ambushed when they're all together. And, finally, the Red Indians are waiting for Jeff, so that the pirates will be distracted by hunting the Warblers, and the Indians can catch them unawares.

Now, if we sit and wait for them to pass, we will be able to distinguish each person as they walk on by.

First, here come the Warblers. There are four of these boys and they are rarely seen apart from each other. Wes is leading them; he is Jeff's right hand man, and the one to keep them all level-headed when Jeff gets too carried away with his zeal for adventure. Next is David, he's Wes' best friend and is the group's joker; if somebody makes a practical joke on another, you can guess that it would be David, and even if it wasn't, he'd be very happy to say that it was. Thad and Trent bring up the rear, both of them talking and almost forgetting at some points that they're supposed to be silent. Thad is what Jeff likes to call the Warblers' 'secret weapon' because he's the best fighter in the group, since his skill rivals Jeff's, and Jeff's had many years more experience than Thad has. Lastly, Trent is the Warbler to whom everyone goes if they have a problem, be it a practical solution or just wanting a good listener, Trent is the one to give it to them. However, Trent is rather too trusting of some people, Sebastian in particular, and today, Trent, it is not a good idea to trust the mischievous pixie; it's not a good idea at all.

After the Warblers have all passed on, the pirates approach. At their head is Noah Puckerman, commonly known as Puck, a vicious pirate if ever there was one and a notorious womaniser; at least, he claimed to have been once, but there weren't many females in Neverland to test this theory. After Puck is Finn, a pirate of so little brains, that many have questioned how he joined the crew of such an accomplished captain as Hunter Clarington. Artie is next, he lost the use of his legs in the sinking of his previous ship, and now uses a specially designed chair which allows him to easily engage in a swordfight with his enemies. Now, in the middle of the crew, comes Hunter himself, flanked by his bo'sun, Sam, a pirate who had succeeded in becoming the only member of the crew to not be feared by any of the island's inhabitants, and many thought him endearing. And finally, the last crew member, Mike, crept along behind them; it was said that he had tried to pursue a career in dancing, before being press-ganged and taken aboard a ship.

Now, Hunter Clarington surveyed his men with a watchful eye as they passed through the undergrowth, priding himself on the stealth with which they moved, but also reprimanding them when they forgot themselves and began arguing. Hunter Clarington could not stand arguing. He'd been taught the trade of piracy under some of the greatest captains the world had ever seen, and there was nothing more despicable to him than conflict between the crew themselves; the odd squabble over rum or prize money he could tolerate, but petty comments about skill or clothing was highly unnecessary.

Hunter, himself, dressed in the finest clothes from the pinnacle of his pirating career, which had sadly been almost too long ago for the clothes to be even remotely in fashion anymore. It was impossible to tell when the clothes had been from, though, since, like everyone else on the island, Hunter could have been any age at all. He looked barely past his mid-twenties, but in truth, he could have been over a hundred and no one would be any wiser. Neverland had a funny way of tricking people in that way.

Just the name Clarington has the power to leave any man trembling where he stands, yet it is against this man that Jeff is placed, and is the only person to have succeeded in leaving a fight against Hunter alive, or at least in a better shape than the pirate. In fact, Sterling is about the only name that worries Hunter in the slightest.

The pirates pass by without any mishaps, and soon the Red Indians approach. I shan't give you the individual descriptions of each Indian that passes, for even if I wanted to, almost all braves look and dress similarly, and it is almost impossible to tell the difference between them. However, at the back of their party comes their leader, the daughter of their chief. The princess' name is Santana, and she is the most fearless warrior of them all; she fears no man, nor will she swear allegiance to any apart from her father, and even then does he have a challenge to control her sometimes.

Finally, the many animals of the island come along. There are many of them, of all shapes and sizes; some are found on the mainland, but many are endemic to the island, and therefore, strange to all those who happen upon them.

The last of these creatures is a gigantic crocodile. She plods along quite purposefully, and it is obvious that she is not randomly hunting; no, she has quite a specific prey that she hungers for. We shall see who that is very soon.

* * *

"I say, we've walked around this entire island with nothing to show for it," Wes cried, as he and the rest of the Warblers drew near to their hideout again.

David threw himself down onto the nearest patch of grass and sighed heavily.

"It was pointless," he complained, "Jeff's still not back, and I've done nothing but become tired and hungry."

Thad and Trent muttered their agreement as they also sat down nearby.

Wes, however, remained standing, angled towards the opening of the clearing that they were currently occupying.

"What is it?" Thad asked curiously, although he fell silent when Wes held up a finger to his lips and motioned for them to be quiet.

"Pirates!" Wes hissed suddenly.

Within seconds, the Warblers had dispersed and disappeared. Trent, Wes and David dived underground in record speed, but Thad was too far from the entrance, and took to running into the woods instead.

Unfortunately, the pirates entered the clearing just as Thad's retreating figure was swallowed by the trees. Puck's hand shot to the pistol at his hip, but a sharp order from Hunter stalled him.

"He's getting away, Captain," the pirate protested, but his superior just shook his head.

"I want all of the Warblers, and I want them all to die together," Hunter stated, "And I want Sterling to watch his friends die first." He looked at all of his men, as though defying them to disobey him. "Now, go after the boy in the woods and bring him back here," he paused, "Unharmed, do you hear?"

There were murmurs of assent, and then all the pirates, save for Hunter and Sam, spread out to hunt the Warbler among the trees.

Sam, thinking that now was as good as any for a rest, sank down onto an overly large toadstool nearby, and began polishing his cutlass with a cloth that he kept with him at all times. Hunter, however, adopted a more pensive stance, and began speaking thoughtfully.

It was only when he mentioned Jeff, did Sam take pay him any attention,

"Sorry, sir," Sam said, "But what was it that you were saying about the boy?"

"I was saying how unsurprising it is that I hate Jeff Sterling," Hunter said, "Ever since the time that he cut off my finger, I have wanted to avenge myself."

"Rightly so, sir," Sam nodded accordingly.

"And then there's that crocodile…" Hunter trailed away.

"You never did like crocodiles, sir."

"I have nothing against crocodiles in general," Hunter said, "It's just one. When Sterling cut off my finger, he fed it to a particular crocodile." He straightened up and looked around himself warily. "That crocodile developed a hunger for the taste of me, and now it follows me wherever I go in an attempt to eat more of me."

Sam shivered.

"That's nasty, Cap'n," he said, "How'd you escape this crocodile so far?"

Hunter smiled.

"Fortunately," he said, "Along with my finger, this crocodile also swallowed a clock, and now it ticks loudly so that I can hear it coming."

"That clock'll run down at some point though, sir," Sam pointed out.

"I know, that's what I'm afraid of," Hunter said, but he wasn't exactly afraid, for Hunter Clarington was not to be beaten by an animal that he could not fairly fight.

"Say, Cap'n, what does this ticking sound like?"

Hunter gave Sam an incredulous look.

"Well, what do you think it sounds like? It sounds like a clock!"

"Sir, does it sound like that?"

"Sound like what?"

As soon as Hunter spoke, he heard it.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

The captain grew pale, and immediately crossed to the other side of the clearing. Sam got up and followed him curiously.

"What do we do now, Cap'n?" the bo'sun asked. He put a hand on the hilt of his cutlass, as though preparing for a grand showdown between the two of them and the crocodile.

Hunter looked around once, and then again.

"Sam," he said seriously, "We run!"

And with that order, the two pirates took off running across the island, the rest of the crew eventually abandoning their search and following them back to their ship.

* * *

"Are they gone?" David asked, poking his head out of one of the exits of their hideout.

"You know as well as anyone that they have," Wes said, giving him a push out of the door, "You heard the crocodile with your own ears, didn't you?"

David huffed slightly, but didn't respond, he knew better than to argue with Wes over something trivial.

"Say, where's Thad?" Trent asked, looking around the clearing, "I know he didn't come to the hideout, but he should have been back by now."

The three Warblers exchanged worried looks.

"You don't think…?"

"Not the pirates…"

"Poor Thad…"

They were ready to give him up for lost, when the boy himself came sprinting out of the trees, and almost collapsed in front of them all.

"Thad!"

"You're alive!"

"Where did you go?"

Thad didn't reply, he just starting gesturing wildly and pointing at the sky.

"What is it?"

"Thad, talk to us!"

"He can't, David, let him breathe first!"

Eventually, Thad found his voice.

"You'll never guess what I've just seen," he said, with a mildly concerned look on his face, but also an excited one. "I was just crossing the brook on the other side of the woods when I saw this…"

However, he was interrupted by David's excited cry.

"Guys, what is that?"

* * *

**A/N: So, they're finally in Neverland, and lots more characters have been introduced - I know that there also wasn't much Niff in this chapter, but they will definitely make more of an appearance next time :) I have a few points to make about terms or names used in here:**

**1. 'Barbecue' is the nickname for Long John Silver (from ****_Treasure Island _by Robert Louis Stevenson****, and 'Flint' is the fictional captain (also from ****_Treasure Island_****) that Long John Silver supposedly sailed under as quartermaster, it is Flint's treasure that the protagonists search for in ****_Treasure Island_****.**

**2. 'Press-ganged' or impressment was a practice in place by the British Navy in the 18th and 19th century, where they would take men by force to create crews warships, many of these men then became sailors for the rest of their lives and may have transferred to pirate ships. However, impressment was abandoned in 1814, so is technically a little out of date for this story to be set in 1911, but you never know with Neverland ages!**

**Also, I have some clues for the competition I offered last chapter: ****_the reference is from a non-animated Disney musical and think about everything I said about the toffee apples, including where I said Nick developed a liking for them _****:)**

**Thank you for reading and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hi, here's Chapter 6, I'm sorry for the longer than usual wait for this chapter, but after the sad news this weekend, I didn't really feel like writing at first, and I was also at G3 so I didn't have the means to write either. But thank you for the wonderful response for the last chapter, I am very grateful for that :)**

**Also, I changed my mind from first person to guess the correct movie reference, to anybody who got it right, and I will be writing a oneshot for all of them. Four readers guessed correctly: ****_an-artist-at-work_****, ****_Kiwi_****, ****_MeganThreeSix_**** and ****_Wallflowerz_****. I have prompts from ****_an-artist-at-work_**** and ****_Wallflowerz_****, but I still need to ones from ****_Kiwi _****and ****_MeganThreeSix, _****and I would like them as soon as possible. ****_MeganThreeSix_****, I did PM you, but ****_Kiwi_****, you weren't signed in so I couldn't PM to tell you that your guess was right, so could you please leave a review or something to give me the prompt - it can be either from this AU, my Conspiratio AU or another historical AU that I think I can work with.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Guys, what is that?"

All of the Warblers raised their eyes to the sky, in the direction of where David was pointing.

"That's what I saw!" Thad cried, "Do you think that it's some sort of new species of bird?"

Wes scoffed.

"Don't be stupid, Thad," he said, "That's a boy, not a bird. He's a boy, just like the rest of us are boys."

For above them, drifting in the breeze, since he'd lost nearly all his energy, was Nick. He'd floated so far away from Jeff that he was beginning to give up the hope that he would ever see the blonde boy again. It also wasn't helping him, the way that Sebastian kept flying around his head at opportune moments, making annoying buzzing noises in his ear, just like an irritating fly.

Sadly, though, Sebastian was Nick's only hope of being able to land safely and within civilisation, and so Nick couldn't just swat him away, as much as he wanted to.

Unfortunately, it was Sebastian who noticed the Warblers beneath them first, for if Nick had, maybe he would have been able to communicate with them and ask for some assistance. Instead, Sebastian seized his chance and he dived down to meet the other boys, leaving Nick stranded in mid-air by himself.

"Do you think we should help him?" Trent had been wondering, when Sebastian alighted on a rock next to him.

"I shouldn't bother," the pixie cut into their conversation.

All eyes turned to him.

"Why not?" Thad asked.

"He's a stranger to the island," Sebastian said simply, "And what has Jeff always said about strangers?"

"Never to trust strangers," Trent stated.

Sebastian smirked.

"Exactly," he nodded at Trent, "And that's why he's given orders for you to shoot the boy in the sky."

"Shoot him?" Wes cried, jumping up from his seat in surprise, "Why would we shoot an unarmed boy?"

The pixie shrugged and shook his head sadly.

"Strangers, you know?" he said, "You can't be too careful."

"And you say that this is on Jeff's orders?" Thad asked.

"Of course," Sebastian said, "He was going to do it himself, but the pirates' cannon blew him out to sea."

"We did hear the cannon," David mused, "And this attack was aimed at Jeff?"

Sebastian nodded gravely.

"He was lucky that I warned him of it first," he said, "And it narrowly missed him." He paused to slowly survey all of the Warblers in front of him. "I shouldn't doubt that this strange boy ordered the pirates to fire that cannon."

"He's a pirate spy, now?" Trent asked incredulously.

"I'm saying that he could be," Sebastian pacified Trent's outburst, "Because you can never be too careful with strangers."

Slowly, all of the Warblers began nodding.

"I suppose we should go and check out the danger," Wes said thoughtfully, as the rest of the Warblers nodded and began gathering up their weapons.

"It is Jeff's order," Thad added, "And Jeff does know more about this island than anybody; he usually knows best."

There was a murmur of mutual agreement from the rest of the group, before all of them stood up and filed out of the clearing together.

* * *

"Are you sure that we shouldn't wait for Jeff to get back?" Trent asked worriedly, "You know, it doesn't look as though that boy will be going anywhere soon."

He was right in this matter, for Nick was so tired now, that he was just letting the wind carry him around in a circle in the sky. He had also given up searching for Sebastian, as he'd soon discovered that the little pixie had left his side, and so he failed to spot his glow from just below him among the Warblers.

"But it was Jeff's specific order that this boy must be shot down," Sebastian said smoothly, alighting on Trent's shoulder. He looked at the Warbler with a sincere gaze, and Trent's trusting nature proved to be his downfall; for we did warn you, Trent, not to trust Sebastian today, but it already appears that it's too late. "And if Jeff had wanted you to wait," the pixie continued, watching as Trent's resistance wavered, "Then he would not have sent me down here to give you these orders; he would have given them to you when he got back."

Slowly, Trent began to pick up his bow and a single arrow. Sebastian nodded encouragingly as the Warbler fitted the arrow onto the string, and then slowly drew back his arm.

"That's it," Sebastian muttered, as Trent raised the bow until it was aimed directly at Nick overhead. "Almost there."

Eventually, Trent loosed the arrow, and it flew through the air noiselessly, before striking Nick in the chest and causing him to fall to the ground.

"You did it!" Sebastian cried, clapping his hands together and flying from Trent's shoulder so that he could dart about happily in the air. "You shot him!"

Wes gave Sebastian a curious glance, which went unnoticed by the pixie, as he wondered why this appeared to be such a personal victory for the other boy; it was almost as though this was for him and not Jeff. Wes stepped up closer to Nick, so that he was kneeling down by the fallen boy.

"It is strange," he murmured to himself, "He does not look like a pirate spy, for he is most definitely not dressed in their typical clothing. In fact, he looks rather too well dressed for any of us, as though he has come from somewhere very far from here. No, he does not look like someone who would intentionally endanger any of us."

Thad joined Wes at Nick's side, and looked down at the boy in front of them both.

"I say," he exclaimed suddenly, "This boy has Jeff's hat!"

"So he does," Wes said, taking the object in question and turning it over in his hands, "Now, why would he have Jeff's hat?"

"Jeff must have given it to him," David piped up, and all eyes turned on Sebastian to verify their theories.

The pixie looked mildly startled as he quickly searched for an answer to give them.

"No, he snatched Jeff's hat just before the cannon was fired," he said finally, looking around at the reactions from the other Warblers.

Wes frowned deeply.

"I think David is right," he said, addressing all of those present, but mostly directing his gaze at Sebastian, "Jeff must have given this boy his hat; for if the boy had got close enough to take Jeff's hat, then he would have been close enough for Jeff to get him with his knife. Since this boy was unharmed before we shot him, we must then assume that Jeff willingly handed over his hat, and therefore, Jeff must have known this boy."

The colour drained from Sebastian's face, and he flew up a little higher out of Wes' reach. However, he was saved from being pulled from the sky by the sudden distraction of Trent's exclamation.

"Then we were not supposed to shoot this boy!" he cried, "But we did and it is now all my fault that we killed him. Oh, Jeff will be so displeased with us, and I shall be sent away, and…"

"It was not all your fault, Trent," Wes interrupted soothingly, "You were just following what you thought was a legitimate order." He glared at Sebastian. "Unfortunately, we must wait for Jeff to decide what is to be your punishment," he said warningly, "For only Jeff has the power to choose what happens to you, Seb. If you have killed one of Jeff's friends, I would begin praying that Jeff is in a forgiving mood today."

Sebastian's cool exterior faded and he just bobbed worriedly in mid-air, while the Warblers crowded around Nick and bowed their heads in shame.

The tense silence was shattered by a jubilant cry.

"Hello, friends!" Jeff's voice echoed around the clearing, "We've returned, and I brought someone to meet you. I say, Sebastian, have you seen Nick?"

There was a no reply from any of them, save for a pitiful cry from Trent.

"His name is Nick," he said sadly, "He is a friend of Jeff's."

Jeff did not appear to hear Trent's lamentations, but instead, looked around himself, as if attempting to gauge where Nick must have gone.

"He is here, Jeff," Wes said eventually, breaking the silence and stepping backwards so that Jeff could see his friend on the ground, "But I fear that a grave misunderstanding has taken place."

"What do you…?" Jeff's question trailed away as he looked down at where Nick lay. Before anyone else could move, he had knelt by the boy's side and was half-cradling him in his lap.

Behind him, Wes took another step back, and motioned for the rest of the Warblers to do the same, for none of them had ever seen Jeff become so involved with another human being in the same way that he was now holding this strange boy.

Jeff looked down at Nick, who lay motionless in his arms. Surely he couldn't be dead; Jeff had only just met him and already he had this undeniable connection to the small brunette. It was an odd sort of connection that Jeff had never had with any of the Warblers or Sebastian; he felt different when he was around Nick, and he didn't quite understand it. It was a foreign feeling, like blushing, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant.

Slowly, Jeff lifted his gaze and surveyed his friends in front of him.

"Who did this?" he asked, "Whose arrow is this?"

Trent, who had never looked more wretched, and for whom we must feel infinitely sorry, for it was not his fault, but a result of his trusting nature which had been taken advantage of by someone else, collapsed onto the nearest rock in horror.

"It was me," he confessed, "I fired that arrow."

Jeff's face clouded over with anger, and he raised his hand to strike the other boy in punishment. He went to move his hand, only to find that something was holding his arm back.

"Say, who is it who stays my hand?" he asked in confusion, looking at the Warblers, who were crowding around him, but they all looked back at him blankly.

"It is the boy," Thad said in awe, "See, he is not dead."

"Not dead?" Sebastian cried indignantly, "How is he not dead?"

However, as he flew above their heads in frustration, he was ignored in favour of examining Nick more closely.

"Nick? Can you hear me?" Jeff asked excitedly as the boy in question opened his mouth and whispered something.

"What does he say?" David said curiously, leaning forward in the hope of catching what Nick was saying.

"Arrow," Nick said softly, looking at Jeff pleadingly. It took Jeff a moment to register what Nick wanted, before he understood.

"Of course, he wants to arrow removed," the blonde boy nodded, and plucked the arrow from Nick's chest. "I say, it struck the button I gave him; this button saved Nick's life."

"Why did you give him a button?" Wes asked.

"It is a kiss," Jeff announced proudly, "He gave me a kiss, and so I gave him one back."

Wes nodded slowly, eying Jeff strangely, as though the boy had gone completely mad. Wes had always prided himself on reading every work of literature that he came across, and so he was fairly confident that he knew what a kiss was, yet, Jeff appeared to be oddly clueless about the whole affair. Still, Wes had learnt not to be surprised by Jeff many years ago, and so he did not question the boy's judgement or views.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was still flying overhead and muttering to himself.

"Thad, tell me what Sebastian is saying," Jeff said to the smallest Warbler, and the other boy nodded hurriedly, before moving away slightly.

Within seconds, he had darted back to Jeff with an answer.

"He asks how can Nick not be dead," Thad repeated, "He says that he was sure that the boy would die."

Jeff frowned.

"Say, Sebastian," he called to the pixie, who then made the mistake of flying down to perch in the palm of Jeff's hand. "What's all this about you wishing that Nick had stayed dead?"

Sebastian paled and tried to fly off, but Jeff had a tight hold on him and he was forced to stay put. Yes, Sebastian, for now you must face the consequences of your actions, and answer for your wrongdoings.

"It was he who ordered us to shoot down Nick," David explained, "He convinced Trent that it was on your orders."

Jeff turned on the pixie with a face like thunder.

"You're supposed to be my best friend, Sebastian," he said accusingly, "Yet ever since we met Nick, you've been nothing but rude and insolent to him; what's he done to upset you?"

Sebastian did not answer, he just looked at Jeff with contempt instead.

"Fine, if you have no explanation, then I shall just give you your punishment," Jeff said finally, "Sebastian, I hereby banish you forever."

"Forever?" Sebastian cried, the shock was evident in the pixie's voice as he was finally released from Jeff's hand, and he flew up into the sky. "After all I've done for you, Jeff, you're just going to send me away?"

"You nearly killed Nick and you just want me to forgive you?" Jeff shot back angrily.

"Jeff," Wes put a restraining hand on the blonde boy's arm, "Forever is an awfully long time, and your friend did survive the attack; maybe a little less than that?"

Eventually, Jeff relented.

"Fine, Sebastian, you are banished for an entire week," he announced.

The pixie did not look any more pacified, and, after shooting a glare in Nick's direction, he flew away to make himself busy until he was permitted to return to rejoin Jeff and the Warblers.

Jeff turned back to the rest of his friends.

"Go and get the main entrance to the hideout ready," he said, "We're going to need it."

"But we haven't used that one in years," David protested, "It'll take us a while to get that opened again."

"I don't recall it being that long ago," Jeff said stubbornly, though, in truth, he could not actually remember ever using the main entrance.

Wes shook his head at his friend, and then led the Warblers away to open the door to the hideout.

It was necessary, you see, to open the seldom used entrance for once, as the Warblers had the need to carry Nick into the hideout as well, as he could not stay out in the open. Usually, the Warblers accessed their hideaway through holes cut into the trees in the surrounding areas, and then sliding underground; each Warbler had their open specifically sized hole that they could get easily up or down. But they did have a larger main entrance to be used for visitors, but they rarely received any guests, at least, not welcome ones, and so the entrance mostly remained closed.

"It's finally open," Thad returned a few minutes later, looking as though he'd been participating in some sort of heavy manual labour for the past hours, not opening a door in a matter of minutes. He mopped his brow. "I think we've just remembered why we try not to use that door," he muttered, and fortunately Jeff did not hear him, for Jeff was never particularly happy to hear complaints.

"Alright," Jeff nodded, "We're just coming."

"Need any help?" Thad asked, looking from Jeff, down to Nick, who was still lying on the ground.

"No, we'll manage," Jeff shook his head and waved the Warbler away.

He looked down at the boy on the ground.

"Do you think you can walk?" he asked softly, his business-like tone was gone and he looked genuinely concerned.

"No," Nick said hoarsely. He was still exhausted from the flight, and the shock of falling from the sky was still affecting him badly; fortunately, he didn't have any physical injuries, but he was sure that he was beginning to suffer from the onset of a terrible headache.

"Right, well, I'll have to carry you then," Jeff decided, "Hold tight." He slipped one arm under Nick's legs, and the other around Nick's back and under his arms. Nick lifted his own arms up and clung to Jeff's neck as though he was scared that the other boy was going to drop him at any point.

The Warblers were waiting for them by the main entrance, which consisted of a large trapdoor, almost the size of the double entrance doors of any grand residence on the mainland. There was no need for this extravagance, as a simple trapdoor would have sufficed, but in Jeff's zeal for adventure, he had decided that it would be more exciting if they made their hideout different from anything else that anybody else would have ever seen.

Jeff carried Nick down into the hideout, and Nick hid his face in Jeff's shoulder as much as he could because of the curious looks that the rest of the Warblers were giving him; especially Wes, who looked as though he was attempting to figure him out completely.

Once Nick and Jeff were inside, then Wes, Thad and Trent followed them, leaving David outside to close up the main entrance, and then cover it over with the moss and branches that been camouflaging it previously. Once David had finished, he climbed into his own hole in one of the trees, and joined the rest of the Warblers below.

Now, if we were to stand in that clearing, we would not have even an inkling that the entrance was there, as David has hidden it particularly well, but that still does not make it entirely secure. Unfortunately, before the Warblers heaved the doors open, the trapdoor had become rather stiff with age, and would not have opened easily for anyone, and certainly the Warblers would never have considered using it. However, at Jeff's great insistence, they tried their utmost to open it, and since they have succeeded in this, they will now think it a great shame to waste their efforts, and they will be more likely to use this entrance. And of course, with the increased usage of the door, the easier it will become for it to be both opened and discovered. This will cause problems for our heroes, which they will discover soon, but still not soon enough.

* * *

**A/N: So, next chapter, their adventures within Neverland will begin, and Sebastian will be returning :)**

**Thanl you for reading, and please leave me a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry about the gaps between chapter updates, I ended up with less time to write than I thought that I'd have, but anyway, please enjoy Chapter 7 - and if you've been waiting for Sebastian to explain himself, do read on... :)**

**Also, ****_magiclover222 _****got the correct answer to my competition, and I have now received oneshot prompts from ****_an-artist-at-work_****, ****_Wallflowerz_****, ****_Kiwi _****and ****_magiclover222_****, but I am still waiting for one from ****_MeganThreeSix_****, which I would like to receive as soon as possible. All oneshots will be written as soon as I can, but I can't promise when they'll be done by.**

**The oneshot for****_ an-artist-at-work_**** is called ****_Finding Neverland_**** and will be uploaded by tomorrow, hopefully, so please do go and read that :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

The Warblers' hideout was possibly the most remarkable creation that Nick had ever come across, and it wasn't just because the entire house had been constructed underground. There was a room for each boy, as well as an alcove that housed a special set of rooms for Sebastian. At first, Wes had fretted over where Nick was going to sleep, but after Jeff had suggested that Nick sleep with him, Wes had quickly amended this by deciding that they could clear one side of the main room and put a bed into one corner.

All in all, the Warblers had been extremely welcoming; Nick had considered that it might have been rather awkward between them, since he was the newest there, yet Jeff had taken a particular liking to him, and that the Warblers had tried to kill him, albeit mistakenly. However, Trent had felt so guilty about what had happened, but he was also very grateful for Nick saving him from his punishment, that he took to following Nick around for a while, in an attempt to make it up to him in any way possible.

Eventually, Nick had told him that he didn't owe him anything, and he'd finally left him alone. Nick felt rather bad for practically telling Trent to go away, but while Trent was a very nice person, it was rather aggravating to have him following his every move.

Jeff, meanwhile, had decided that since Nick was their guest, they should all practically wait on him hand and foot. Nick had protested this and tried to get the other boys to treat him just the same as they'd treat one another, but Jeff seemed to have convinced them that Nick would be repaying them sufficiently with the stories he could tell.

And that's what he'd been doing every night; sitting the boys down and telling them all a variety of different stories. Although he'd quickly discovered that they could all read, courtesy of Wes teaching them, the Warblers did not own any proper fiction books and therefore, they were all mesmerised by the fact that Nick could just repeat any fairytale whenever he wanted to.

Jeff enjoyed the stories that Nick would tell them, but it always puzzled him that all the tales were about princesses and rarely featured a prince until the girl needed saving; were girls always getting into trouble like that?

Sadly for Jeff, you see, he'd never properly encountered a girl, apart from when he was much younger, and so he didn't remember that very well. Of course he knew female fairies, the mermaids and Santana; but the fairies and the mermaids are magical creatures, and therefore, react differently to ordinary humans; and Santana is so headstrong and determined to be seen as one of the Indian warriors, that Jeff stopped seeing her as a girl ages ago, and now just assumed that she was utterly unique and just, well, Santana-like.

"Say, Nick," Jeff spoke up one day during their daily storytelling, "Can I ask you something?"

Nick looked over in surprise at the blonde boy, and nodded quickly.

"Of course, Jeff," he replied.

The blonde was usually silent during the story, and would often reprimand the others if they interrupted. Yet, here he was, leaning back on his chair so that only two legs were on the ground and looking as there was something very important that he wanted to say.

"Do you have any stories that don't involve princesses?"

Nick frowned at the question.

"What do you mean?" he asked in confusion; all the fairytales he could recite had princesses in them, at least, he was pretty sure that they did in some shape of form. Of course, there may have been ones that didn't focus solely on princesses, but he didn't really know of any well enough to retell them.

"I mean, are there any stories where instead of a prince and a princess, they have two princes?" Jeff clarified, watching as Nick's expression morphed from one of confusion to one of thoughtfulness.

"I don't think there are any," Nick said eventually, sounding mildly disappointed at that realisation.

Jeff's face fell as well, as the rest of the Warblers glanced amongst themselves; the majority of them were puzzled as to Jeff's request, since they couldn't understand his dislike of princesses, but Wes just smiled knowingly to himself.

"That's a shame," he said sadly, "I'd like to be rescued by a prince, but I can't be a princess, can I?"

Nick opened and closed his mouth a few times, before settling on a suitable reply.

"Just because there aren't any stories about two princes," he said finally, "Doesn't mean that it couldn't happen."

Jeff smiled happily at that.

"So I can find myself a prince?" he asked excitably.

Nick nodded quickly, and assured him that he could. The blonde boy had been so pleased that he'd declared that Nick could tell them another story that night, instead of just telling them one.

Although Nick was reciting a story to the boys in front of him, his mind was elsewhere, as he considered Jeff's desperation to find his own prince. It was pretty clear to Nick that Jeff liked boys, there was no doubt about it, and Nick would be lying if he wasn't overjoyed by this piece of news, since Nick had always known that he preferred boys over girls as well.

Yet, there was something about Jeff that made having feelings for him seem incredibly inappropriate. Maybe it was because he was so innocent? Yes, it felt strange to have those sorts of feelings for someone who didn't even know what kissing was.

And then there was the horrid doubt in the back of Nick's head; Jeff wanted a prince, and Nick would never be a suitable substitute for such a great expectation as that.

Nick sighed and continued with the story regardless, while the Warblers appeared oblivious to his internal turmoil. Not that Nick thought they needed to know about his feelings, they'd probably all think that he had just arrived and now was trying to steal their best friend away from them. No, Nick just needed to ignore his feelings and concentrate on being a friend to Jeff, because that's what the other boy needed, he didn't need someone pursuing him romantically; not that he'd realise if anybody was.

Why was everything so complicated?

* * *

Sebastian returned from his week long suspension in a similar mood to the one that he had left in, demanding loudly, when he first re-entered the hideout, whether anybody had missed him. He'd received a rather resounding silence, since all of the boys had been out at that moment, and so, in a fit of rage, he'd decided to take a pair of scissors to as many pairs of socks as he could find. Sadly for Seb, he only managed to find two pairs, one pair belonging to Wes, the other pair to Nick, and so he was not entirely satisfied once he'd finished.

Nick, of course, being slightly bewildered by the giant holes cut out of his socks, had taken a needle to both his pair and Wes', and had sewn patches into them so that they were wearable again.

Needless to say, that did not improve Sebastian's mood either.

In truth, Sebastian, you should probably be glad that you were allowed to return as quickly as you did. For you know Jeff's timekeeping skills, or lack of them, and you are fortunate that when you asked him if a week was up, he replied in the affirmative, instead of telling you that you must wait a little while longer before you would be permitted to return.

On the other hand, Nick was wishing that Wes hadn't prevented Jeff from banishing Sebastian forever, for ever since the pixie had gotten back, he appeared to be doing everything he could to make Nick's life a misery. After the socks incident, he'd also dropped a pan of hot water on him; granted, it was only a Sebastian-sized pan, but it had managed to burn his arm a little and had left a small pink mark for a few days. And the pixie also took every opportunity to contradict everything that Nick said or suggested, and it was annoying the other boy so much that he decided to speak with Sebastian as soon as possible.

And therefore, it was a great surprise for Sebastian to suddenly see Nick's face appear on the same level as his small alcove in the hideout.

"I thought you'd all gone on an adventure," Sebastian said, getting ready to pull the curtain across in front of Nick's face so that the other boy could go away and leave him in peace.

"The others have gone," Nick said shortly, "But I've stayed here."

Sebastian laughed sarcastically to himself.

"Now, why would you do that?" he asked, "I doubt it was because you wanted to spend quality time with me."

Nick frowned.

"Actually," he said, "I did stay here because I wanted to speak to you."

"But maybe I don't want to speak to _you_," Sebastian snapped quickly, busying himself by tidying up a few of the clothes that had fallen on the floor in one of his rooms.

Nick sighed, understanding that if he didn't just ask the pixie straight away, then was going to be ignored and then he'd never have an answer.

"Sebastian, are you jealous of me?"

The shock of Nick's question caused the pixie to drop the shoe he was holding, and it clattered surprisingly loudly as it landed and rolled across the floorboards.

"Sorry," Sebastian looked utterly confused, "Did you just ask whether I was jealous of you?"

Nick nodded quickly, watching the other boy through narrowed eyes.

"Why would I be jealous of you?" Sebastian actually started laughing at that point and he collapsed backwards onto his bed, "Oh, that's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever heard! Me? Jealous of you?"

Nick frowned in annoyance.

"Wait, you were being serious?" Sebastian's eyes widened and he sat up hurriedly.

"Yes, I was being serious," Nick replied through gritted teeth; it was taking all of his will power to stop himself from picking the pixie up and throwing him against the nearest wall to knock some sense into him. "You don't seem to like it whenever Jeff pays any attention to me, and you dislike it even more when I pay attention to him."

There was pause, before Sebastian's eyes widened in realisation and he dissolved in another irritating fit of laughter.

"You think that I'm in love with Jeff and so I'm jealous of you!" he cried, "Oh, Nick…" He regarded the other boy slightly pitifully. "Oh, Nick…" he repeated.

"Well, are you?" Nick snapped, he had little patience with the pixie as it was.

"Of course not!" Sebastian cried, laughing at the suggestion.

Nick breathed an audible sigh of relief, which failed to go unnoticed by the other boy.

"Oh, but you are!" the pixie crowed, sounding very similar to a particular blonde boy when he was pleased with himself.

Nick blushed and cast a quick glance around the room, even though there was no one there to overhear their conversation.

"Alright," he said finally, "Maybe it's not love yet, but I do have some, er, feelings for Jeff."

"I knew it!" Sebastian cried, "Why else do you think I keep annoying you?"

Nick's brow furrowed in confusion again.

"Wait, so you annoy me because I like Jeff, but you're still claiming that you're not jealous of me?" he asked, "How does that work?"

"Listen," Sebastian said suddenly, "I'm going to tell you something, but you mustn't tell anyone else."

"Why not?"

"Because I've never told anyone this before, not even Jeff or the Warblers."

"Okay, then, go ahead."

"This will probably sound weird," Sebastian explained, "But if I can find my one true love and kiss them, then I will become human-sized. If I was in love with Jeff, do you think I'd still be only six inches tall?"

Nick considered this for a moment, and then began nodding slowly.

"No, I guess you wouldn't," he said, "But that still doesn't explain why you dislike me for liking Jeff, surely it shouldn't bother you?"

Sebastian opened his mouth to reply, but Nick cut him off quickly.

"Wait, you need to be kissed?" he asked, "If you know what a kiss is, then why does Jeff not?"

Sebastian sighed.

"That is exactly why I don't like you or what you're doing," he said eventually, "Jeff doesn't know what a kiss is because he's too innocent, and if you go after him because you like him romantically, then he won't stay that innocent, will he?" He paused. "Unless you're really creepy and want a relationship in which you won't even touch Jeff, but…"

Nick made a face.

"I'd like an actual relationship," he said, "Where I could actually kiss another person, and if that person is Jeff, well, then I shall have to teach him what a kiss really is."

"That's why I'm trying to put you off pursuing Jeff," Sebastian said, "He's innocent and he should stay that way, therefore, he can't know what a kiss is."

"Why do you want him to stay so innocent?" Nick asked, sounding slightly angry at this point, "Why is it up to you?"

"It's not up to me," Sebastian hissed, "Since it's Jeff who wants to stay innocent, and, as his best friend, I feel obliged to fulfil that request of his. Don't look so confused, growing up is Jeff's greatest fear and by remaining as innocent as he is, he won't be growing up anymore."

"You can't seriously expect Jeff to just stay the same forever, can you?" Nick asked incredulously.

Sebastian glared at the other boy.

"It's what Jeff wants," he said with a shrug, "And so I'm just doing what he wishes, since he's my best friend. If you care about how he feels, you'll also respect that."

"But what if Jeff develops feelings for someone else?" Nick persisted, "The other day he mentioned that he wanted to find himself his own prince, just like in the fairytales."

"Well, that's you feeding him ridiculous stories, isn't it?" Sebastian said, looking highly unimpressed, "Anyway, have you seen many princes on this island? No, I didn't think so."

"I didn't mean a literal prince," Nick retorted, "It's just the principle of it. What would happen if Jeff fell in love with someone? Would you just keep him in the dark and not tell him how to deal with his feelings or not tell him how to act on his feelings?"

"I'd do what Jeff wanted," Sebastian replied, "If he asked to know, then I'd tell him."

"He can't ask you!" Nick cried, "Because he doesn't know that these things exist; he doesn't know that there are things you should do if you have feelings for someone. He'll be left floundering with a load of emotions that he won't understand."

Sebastian seethed at this accusation; he was fiercely protective of Jeff, and he took Jeff's belief in not growing up very seriously indeed.

"This is only an issue because you're making it one," the pixie said, "Ever since we met you, Nick, you've caused nothing but trouble, and I can tell that you're going to cause more."

"Having feelings for someone and wanting to act on those feelings is not wrong," Nick replied sharply, "You're the one causing trouble, Sebastian." His voice took on a determined tone. "I like Jeff, and if there's a chance that he reciprocates these feelings, then I shall act upon them, whether you like it or not."

"Fine," Sebastian said warningly, "Continue like this, Nick. But be warned, I will try and stop you."

Their conversation was hastily terminated by the return of Jeff and the Warblers, and the sound of excited voices filled the hideout. Nick moved away from Sebastian's rooms, and the pixie drew the curtain across so that he was hidden from sight.

"You should have come with us today, Nick!" Jeff cried excitably, grabbing Nick by the hands and whirling him around the room a few times, "We've just had the most wonderful adventure!"

"I'm glad to hear that," Nick said, smiling warmly at the blonde boy, who was currently hopping from foot to foot as he recalled the day's happenings.

"I shall take you on an adventure tomorrow, Nick!" Jeff said suddenly, "Just me and you, how does that sound?"

Nick was sure that he heard the muffled noise of Sebastian punching something viciously behind his curtain, but he ignored the angry pixie, and instead turned to Jeff with a bright grin on his face.

"I'd love that, Jeff," he said happily.

"Thank you!" Jeff cried, clearing overjoyed with the other boy's agreement and he bounded over to hug Nick tightly, "You're the best, Nicky!"

* * *

**A/N: So, now we know why Sebastian was being such a nuisance :) **

**Also, the updates for the next month or so will not be very regular, and updates will be subject to Internet availabilty. I will also be trying to write as much as possible over the next few days, so that I have something to upload, because I will be able to upload stuff that has already been written, but I won't be able to write any new chapters.**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So, Nick and Jeff's first proper adventure together is here, along with the introduction of a number of new characters :) Thank you to everyone for the response to this story, as always, it has been lovely!**

**Also, I have posted my first oneshot from the competition, it's a prompt from ****_an-artist-at-work_**** and it's called ****_Finding Neverland_**** :) So, please go and check that out - it's on my profile, and it's also under the characters of 'Jeff' and 'Dalton Academy Warblers', which is why it hasn't appeared with this one :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

Nick woke up the next morning in a fevered state of excitement. Jeff was taking him on an adventure, just the two of them. Even with the warning he'd received from Sebastian, Nick was still very happy about that arrangement.

"So, Nick, are you ready for our adventure?" Jeff asked, as Nick sat down next to him with his breakfast.

Nick nodded enthusiastically; this wouldn't be his first adventure at all, but it was the only one where it was going to be just him and Jeff alone.

"Of course," he replied, trying not to speak with his mouth full, "Where are we going?"

Jeff's eyes lit up at Nick's excited tone.

"I thought I'd take you to the lagoon," the blonde boy said, "So that you can meet the mermaids."

Nick grinned back at Jeff, but inside, his heart had sunk a little; he'd heard the stories about the mermaids, and he hadn't been in any hurry to meet any of them. I've said it before and I shall say it again, mermaids are funny creatures and unless treated correctly, can act rather nastily.

Jeff was their favourite, and while they tolerated the Warblers, they were not fond of any strangers. Jeff, being as oblivious as he usually was, could not see this, since they liked him, and so, he assumed that they'd like all of his friends as well. Unfortunately, that was highly unlikely to be the case for Nick, as the mermaids were also very protective of their favourites, and so if Jeff paid more attention to Nick than to them, then they would not be very happy.

Sebastian, overhearing the conversation from his alcove, smirked to himself, and then flew over to perch briefly on Nick's right shoulder.

"Now, doesn't that sound fun?" he said sarcastically, in a low whisper so that only Nick could hear him, "The mermaids _love_ strangers just walking into their homes."

Nick frowned, swatting Sebastian away before turning back to Jeff with a smile.

The pixie quickly retreated back to his rooms; oh, Nick was in for some fun indeed.

"That sounds great, Jeff," Nick said eventually, "I take it that you'll be there all the time?" The last thing he needed was for Jeff to abandon him in the middle of crowd of hostile magical creatures.

"Of course," Jeff said, "I'll be there with you all the time. I'm not just going to leave you, and anyway, this adventure is for me and you together!"

"What are we supposed to do all day, then?" David asked, sitting down with his breakfast as well, but unlike Nick, he just chewed and talked at the same time.

"David, don't talk with your mouth full," Wes chided, "I have taught you all manners, but I swear you're no better than animals sometimes."

David rolled his eyes at his friend, but did swallow before he spoke again.

"So, Jeffy, what are we doing?" he repeated.

The blonde boy frowned at the nickname.

"Don't call me that," Jeff protested.

David shrugged and motioned for him to continue.

"Anyway, I was thinking about sending you all up to the Red Indian camp," Jeff explained, "We're going to need their alliance against Hunter, because if everything comes down to a fight, we don't want them attacking us as well."

Wes nodded.

"A sensible suggestion," he said, refraining from adding 'for once' on the end of his sentence, because Jeff was known for having some very impractical ideas when it came to adventures. Wes was also glad that Jeff wasn't letting his pride control him and claim that they didn't need the Indians' help.

"We'll go right after breakfast, won't we?" Trent asked eagerly, already starting to wash up his bowl in anticipation of leaving for the camp.

"I'll get the weapons," Thad chimed in, clearly believing that they might have to defend themselves if negotiations for an alliance didn't quite go the way that the Warblers were planning.

"We'll leave right away," Wes decided, easily taking charge, "Hurry up with that food, David. Thad, don't take all those weapons, a knife each should be enough; but, yes, Trent, you can take that bow."

The older boy sighed heavily as he had to physically prevent David from taking second helpings of breakfast.

"What about me?" Sebastian piped up from his alcove; he was already rather certain about the options he was about to be given.

"Well, you can either go with the others to the Red Indian camp, or you can stay here," Jeff replied, flashing a smile at his friend in complete innocence.

Sebastian glared at Jeff, but the blonde boy didn't appear to notice the pixie's displeasure; not that he'd been expecting to be given permission to tag along with Nick and Jeff to the lagoon.

"I'll stay here," Sebastian spoke up eventually, he did contemplate following the two boys to see the mermaids, and then causing havoc for Nick once they arrived, but he didn't want Jeff to get angry at him again, and anyway, the mermaids would probably do it for him.

Sadly, if Sebastian had chosen to not remain in the hideout, then a lot of the next amount of trouble would have been avoided by everyone; but then again, it would also mean that Sebastian's life would not have been changed so greatly for the better.

"We'll go now," Jeff announced suddenly, giving Nick a few moments to collect his shoes, before he dragged him out of the hideout and away towards the lagoon.

"What's up with them having a private adventure without us?" David asked, frowning as the pair disappeared.

"Oh, really, David? I think that is pretty much obvious," Wes replied.

David frowned.

"Is it?" he said, still sounding confused.

Across the room, Thad and Trent exchanged glances and Trent rolled his eyes at how clueless David was; he wasn't oblivious like Jeff was, but he took a while to see the obvious sometimes.

Wes sighed in frustration.

"I think it's clear that the two of them like each other," he said, "Or, Nick likes Jeff, and Jeff likes Nick, but Jeff hasn't quite realised what that means yet." He paused while David caught up to what he meant. "Come on, we'd better get going."

Behind the curtain in his alcove, Sebastian lay back on his bed and narrowed his eyes at the thought of Nick slowly corrupting Jeff the way he was currently doing.

* * *

"Here we are!" Jeff cried, throwing his arms wide and announcing their arrival to anybody in the current vicinity.

The lagoon lay spread out in front of the two boys, the gleaming white sands ran all the way down the slope into the clear blue water, while the whole area was framed by flowers and the surrounding forest.

Nick scanned the sea in front of him for any sight of the mermaids, but he knew from the experience in his dreams that they only really appeared when they thought that there was no one around to see them.

"Come on," Jeff said excitably, grabbing Nick's hand and pulling him down to the shoreline; to Nick's disappointment, Jeff dropped his hand as they halted so that he could raise it to his mouth when he shouted for the mermaids to come out and see them.

Meanwhile, Jeff was waiting for his friends to show themselves, but he was also debating internally as to whether he should take Nick's hand again, for the feeling of holding it have been a rather pleasant one, and Jeff wanted to experience that again. But he eventually decided against it, something in his head telling him that it would actually be inappropriate to suddenly hold another boy's hand without just cause.

After a few more minutes, there were the first few ripples in the previously calm waters, and then strange sound filled the air; it was almost an oddly pitched wail, and it took Nick a moment to realise that it was supposed to be a song. He turned to Jeff with a slightly pained frown on his face, and the blonde boy laughed.

"That's Rachel," he explained in a whisper, "She tends to sing whenever she can, and it sounds like she's just getting warmed up for today, that's why it doesn't sound so great yet."

Nick nodded slowly, hoping that, whoever Rachel was, she could warm up as soon as possible so that her song didn't sound so odd.

"Jeff, to what do we owe this pleasure?" a new voice asked. Nick jumped at the sudden interruption, and both he and Jeff turned in the direction of the newcomer.

"Ah, Quinn!" Jeff cried happily, addressing the blonde mermaid, who had perched herself on a rock just offshore, "I've brought my friend Nick to meet you."

Quinn smiled at Jeff and then looked across at Nick, her shrewd gaze sizing him up before she greeted him.

"It's nice to meet you, Nick," she said, smiling emptily at him, and as soon as she could, she looked straight back at Jeff, who, she was displeased to see, was staring intently at Nick.

"It's nice to meet you too, er, Quinn," Nick managed to stumble out, feeling rather intimidated by the mermaid's piercing gaze.

"He's not much of a talker, I assume?" a different voice asked, sounding unimpressed at Nick's sudden lack of verbal response.

Quinn turned to face the speaker.

"How nice of you to join us, Mercedes," she said, as the mermaid in question just shot the blonde girl a glare and then returned to combing her hair.

"It's not all about you, Quinn," another voice chimed in, "Share Jeff around, won't you?"

"I want Nick to meet all of you," Jeff said quickly, he motioned to the mermaid who had just spoken, "Nick, this is Tina; Tina, this is my friend, Nick."

The mermaid barely spared Nick a glance, before turning and diving back into the water.

"Don't mind her," Jeff said aside to Nick, "I'm sure she didn't mean to be rude."

"Of course not," Nick replied automatically, thinking in his head about how everything he'd heard about the mermaids had actually been rather true.

"She said share you around, Jeff, not your friend," yet another mermaid added.

Nick winced, none of the others had been quite that blunt before, but he guessed that he should have really been expecting it.

"Sugar!" Quinn scolded at the other mermaid's comment, but more in anger at the fact she'd made everything so obvious, instead of actually worrying that Nick might have been offended.

Sugar smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, I can't help it," she said, but failing to sound particularly remorseful about anything.

"Don't worry about it," Jeff added in, and Nick realised just how Jeff put up with the mermaids; he was completely unaware of the way that they acted, and the fact that they were blatantly flirting was completely lost on him.

There was a lull in the conversation as the mermaids all smiled gratefully at Jeff.

However, all the calm was lost, when the singing, which had previously faded into background noise, decided to crescendo and the owner of the voice appeared above the water's surface. She perched herself on a rock and began singing as loudly as possible.

"Oh, do be quiet, Rachel," Mercedes complained, ceasing brushing her hair to glare at the other mermaid, "No one wants to hear your wailing."

Rachel huffed and flipped her hair over one shoulder defiantly.

"You're just jealous of my range," she said.

Mercedes laughed.

"Nobody's jealous of anything of yours," she retorted, "No one wants to be you."

"Like anybody wants to be you either," Rachel shot back.

"Ladies, please," Quinn interrupted, she turned back to the boys on the shore, "I'm sorry, Jeff."

Jeff waved away the apology, while Nick noted the way that he'd been ignored. In fact, he was starting to wonder why he'd been made to come along in the first place, since he was clearly so unwelcome.

"Sorry, Jeff," came the chorus from the mermaids.

"Jeff?" someone else cried, and there was an almighty splash as the final mermaid arrived, "Where's Jeff?"

Quinn sighed, Tina rolled her eyes and Mercedes shook her head.

"I'm over here, Britt," Jeff called, smiling broadly at the mermaid, who immediately swam over in their direction.

Nick lost sight of her in the water, only to rediscover her when she appeared in the water at his feet.

"Britt, this is my friend Nick; Nick, this is Brittany," Jeff introduced them, and Nick was pleased to see that a genuine smile broke out on the blonde mermaid's face.

"Hello, Nick!" she said cheerfully, "Are you a dolphin like Jeff?"

Nick looked startled, and he turned to Jeff for help, but the blonde boy just shrugged.

"After all these years," he said, barely above a whisper, "I still have no idea what she means by that. Just do what I did; agree with her."

Nick nodded slightly, before looking back down at the mermaid by his feet.

"Er, yes, Britt, I am a dolphin, er, like Jeff," he replied.

Brittany squealed happily and clapped her hand together.

"I knew it!" she cried, "Now I have two dolphins to play with!"

She gave both boys a wave and then swam away into the deeper water again.

"Sorry about her," Sugar called, "We have no idea what she's talking about half the time."

Nick was tempted to reply and say that there was no need to apologise; he would have much rather spend an hour talking nonsense with Brittany, than to talk to any of the other mermaids seriously for five minutes. But when he considered it, he didn't really want to make the current animosity any worse.

The mermaids went about their own business after the initial excitement, although they occasionally resurfaced to say something to Jeff, or just wave coyly at him. The blonde boy would just smile back, and then the mermaids would giggle and swim away.

Nick and Jeff sat in the sand for a while, just talking about whatever they felt like; Jeff spoke about his past adventures, although Nick was not sure how many were the truth, while Nick talked about London, because Jeff had wanted to hear more about the mainland. The blonde boy was especially fascinated by Nick's recounts of cars and telephones; wheeled vehicles that moved faster than ever before, and a way of speaking to someone even when they were miles away? Jeff was bewildered beyond belief.

After what felt like hours of just sitting on the beach together, Jeff grew bored of talking, and he decided that he wanted to do something active. He jumped to his feet, and offered a hand to Nick before the other boy could question what was happening.

"Come on, we're going swimming," Jeff said, answering Nick's queries before he could voice them.

"Really?" Nick didn't sound convinced, "Is that a good idea?" He was worried about what the mermaids might do if he entered their home without their explicit permission.

"Sure, it is!" Jeff cried, "And if you can't swim very well, then I'll just help you."

Nick blushed.

"I can swim, Jeff," he said, and he could have sworn that he could hear one of the mermaids sniggering quietly behind him. "I just thought that…" He trailed away, wondering how he could voice his concerns about the mermaids without offending anyone.

"It's fine, honestly," Jeff insisted, "I won't leave you on your own out there, Nicky. And anyway, this is supposed to be our adventure together."

Nick sighed.

"Fine," he relented, kicking his shoes off and dipping his toes into the water to test the temperature; of course, it was absolutely perfect and inviting.

"Thank you, Nicky!" Jeff grabbed Nick's hands and spun him around a few times. "Now, take your shirt off and we can go."

"What?" Nick asked in shock. Did Jeff just give him permission to go shirtless?

"Take your shirt off, Nick," Jeff repeated, "You can't go swimming in it. Keep your trousers on though, because that would be weird."

Nick forced a laugh as he reminded himself to breathe; he had panicked slightly that Jeff might have the strange notion that they had to swim naked, because he wasn't sure that he could handle that.

"Oh, of course," he said, catching sight of Quinn to his left, who was hissing at him as he slipped his shirt over his head; she clearly didn't want him anywhere near a half-naked Jeff either. He deposited his shirt and shoes far enough up the beach that the mermaids wouldn't be able to mess with his belongings out of spite.

Jeff grinned at him once his shirt was off, and Nick had to prevent himself from noticeably blushing at the other boy's obvious staring, before remembering that Jeff had seen him shirtless previously when they'd first met.

"Good," was all Jeff said, before he'd pulled his own shirt over his head and discarded it somewhere close by.

Nick had to avert his eyes once he'd caught sight of Jeff with no shirt on; he really didn't need to embarrass himself just then.

However, there were some appreciative murmurs from the watching mermaids.

Meanwhile, Jeff was having a hard time preventing his eyes from wandering when he faced Nick. It was strange, he'd never had the odd urge to stare at any of the other Warblers when they went swimming, but with Nick, he was finding it difficult to fixate his gaze on his face when his shirt was off. Of course, Nick was very nice to look at; Jeff's brain kicked itself for that comment, why on Earth was he describing another human being in the same way that he would a beautiful sunset. It was a nice view though; Jeff didn't even know what that was supposed to mean.

He was so completely confused by his own thoughts that he gave up thinking at all.

"Let's go!" he yelled, catching Nick's hand and pulling him into the water.

The mermaids dived underwater in disgust when they were suddenly splashed by the two boys.

At various points, the mermaids would resurface and either try to drag Jeff away or drown Nick, but every time they failed. One time, Quinn got hold of one of Nick's legs, while Rachel grabbed the other, and they attempted to drag him under together, but Jeff wrapped his arms tightly around the other boy's waist, and Nick threw his arms around Jeff so that they were clinging to each other. At the worry of accidentally drowning Jeff as well, the mermaids gave up and swam away in defeat.

"They really hate me," Nick said sadly, "Maybe we should leave?"

"No!" Jeff cried, "I'm sure they don't hate you, and you can't leave while we're having an adventure."

Nick looked at his friend sadly.

"Jeff, they're trying to drown me repeatedly," he said, "That's about the biggest show of hate possible."

"Oh," Jeff looked rather heartbroken at this; he'd assumed the best from the mermaids, but he was starting to realise that he'd been mistaken.

"I mean, what if everybody on this island actually hates me?" Nick asked, "Maybe I should go home to London."

"You can't leave me!" Jeff said, looking absolutely stricken at the idea, "We're going to have lots of fun adventures together, I promise! It can be just me and you as well, if you want, but I don't want you to leave me, Nick!"

Nick took in Jeff's look of utter sadness, and his heart wrenched; he couldn't do that to Jeff, could he?

"Alright," he said softly, "I'll stay, for you."

Jeff smiled brightly.

"Thank you," he replied, speaking just as softly as Nick had; it was a private conversation, just between the two boys.

They stayed like that for a while, their arms still around each other from when the mermaids had been there.

"Er, Jeff," Nick said eventually, "This is rather awkward." He looked down at where their bare chests were pressed together.

Jeff looked down as well, a blush spreading across his features as he had the sudden notion, that what he'd thought was innocent, actually wasn't quite so right.

"Sorry," he said hurriedly, releasing Nick from his arms. "Say, Nick, I'll race you to that rock over there!"

He pointed to a large rock, just past the boundary of the lagoon.

Nick grinned.

"You're on."

They set off at a reasonable pace, both swimming just as strongly as the other. They reached the lagoon boundary at the same time, but a sudden movement from further out in the water caught Jeff's eye, and he pulled Nick back behind one of the boundary rocks.

The movement was a small rowing boat, carrying three figures. Jeff recognised it at once. He turned to the mermaids, who'd all appeared to watch their race curiously.

"Pirates!"

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so this is my last definite update at this point :) Depending on WiFi availability, you will hopefully get, over the next three weeks, three chapter updates and one oneshot - the other oneshots will be delayed, I'm sorry! And ****_MeganThreeSix_****, I do still need a prompt from you :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought! :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So, Chapter 9, involving the reappearance of a few familar characters :) Thank you to everyone for your response to this story :)**

**Also, my oneshot for ****_Wallflowerz_**** has been posted, it's called ****_Gemini_**** and is set in my ****_Conspiratio _****AU :)**

**Warnings: Mild violence (ie. a badly written fight scene) and mild injury.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Pirates!"

In the blink of an eye, there had been a sudden flash of tails and a splash of water, and then the mermaids were all gone.

"What do you mean, pirates?" Nick asked, as Jeff started pulling him back towards the shore.

"What do you think I meant by pirates?" Jeff questioned, "That boat is a pirate boat, and in it were Sam and Puck, I'd recognise them anywhere."

"And the third figure?" Nick asked, as they clambered up the beach, drying themselves briefly in the hot sun, and then pulling their shirts over their head and slipping their shoes on.

"I don't know," Jeff replied, "Which is why I want to get a closer look."

"And how do we do that? We can't just fly out to meet them."

"I know another way," Jeff said, "Just follow me."

He flew up into the air, with Nick close behind him at his heels. They kept low over the lagoon, which was now deathly silent, and there was no hint of the mermaids anymore, not even a left behind comb on one of the rocks. Jeff motioned for Nick to stay completely noiseless as they approached the high rocks that formed the boundary of the lagoon, and then they both crawled onto the topmost one and lay down near the edge.

Below them, the pirates were rowing the boat towards the rock that Nick and Jeff had tried to swim to, but onboard was a mysterious figure that Jeff could not identify until they rowed nearer.

As they came closer, they travelled out of the shadow of the rocks, and the sunlight illuminated the third person.

"It's Santana!" Jeff hissed in surprise, "What's she doing with the pirates?"

Suddenly, Jeff's thoughts went to his friends.

"What if she'd formed an alliance with them and I've just sent the Warblers into a trap?" he cried, as loud as he dared without being discovered.

"Jeff, I don't think she went willingly," Nick said, "Look, she's their prisoner."

And, sure enough, there was Santana, sitting in the boat with her hands and feet tied, and her mouth gagged.

The rowing boat was getting even nearer now, and it was possible for Nick and Jeff to catch some of the pirates' conversation.

"This rock should do," Sam was saying, "The Cap'n wants her left out here, doesn't he?"

"They were his orders," Puck replied gruffly, "I don't even know what she did to warrant a punishment."

"She was caught boarding the ship," Sam replied, "Why else do you think that she was onboard when we caught her?"

Puck glared at the other pirate.

"Alright, I was just saying," he said crossly, "I don't even want to be here."

"And you think I do?" Sam snapped.

Across from them, in the boat, Santana rolled her eyes and muttered some sort of obscenity from behind the gag.

"Shut up!" Puck growled at her, earning himself a sharp kick in the leg from the girl. "Ow, that hurt!"

Santana just shook her head at the sorry excuses for pirates.

Up on the ledge, and watching the drama play out below them, Jeff glanced over at Nick.

"We have to save her," he said, "We need the support of Santana's father against the pirates, and if he finds out that we just left his daughter at the mercy of the very men that we want an alliance against, then he will hate us too." He paused. "We just need a plan."

"Any ideas?" Nick asked, feeling completely useless, in his eyes there was no way that they could save the girl from being tied to the rock and left until the tide came in.

Beside him, Jeff was deep in thought, although he hadn't come up with a plan just yet, he was rather confident in his own ability to lead an adventure; the only problem was that he didn't always think his plans all of the way through, so there was a chance that it would be lost halfway into it.

"We'll leave her here," Sam said suddenly, pulling up beside the rock, and helping Puck lift Santana up and place her there. The girl muttered another insult under her breath.

"Goodbye, Satan," Puck said cheerfully, waving mockingly at the girl and then laughing at his own joke.

"Jeff, we have to do something now, or it'll be too late," Nick said urgently, for the tide was already high on the rock as it was.

Jeff was silent for a few more minutes, before he suddenly came to an idea.

"I know what to do," he said, "Watch this."

The blonde boy rose up from his hiding spot by Nick, and quietly crawled over to the side of the rock, and then he peered slightly around a small overhang that was hiding him from the sight of the pirates below. Nick watched him with great interest, and Jeff glanced back to motion for him to stay where he was.

"Sam! Puck!" Jeff called out loudly, cleverly imitating Hunter's voice to perfection.

"I say, that's the Cap'n!" Sam cried, ceasing his rowing and looking around himself in confusion.

"Where are you?" Puck called out, failing to spot the origin of the voice, for all he saw was endless water with the occasional grey rock emerging from it.

"It doesn't matter where I am," Jeff replied in Hunter's voice, "What matters are my orders, and I want you to let the girl prisoner go."

The pirates looked at each other curiously.

"Did you say let her go, Cap'n?" Sam asked.

"I did," Jeff said.

"But we've just followed your orders to leave her there," Puck protested, "She's our prisoner, why would we let her go?"

"Are you questioning my orders?" Jeff cried indignantly, "You know how I feel about traitors!"

"We're not traitors, Cap'n," Sam said quickly, "Honest, we're not."

"Well, then prove it, and free the girl," Jeff continued.

Puck and Sam exchanged a frightened glance.

"Now!"

"Alright, Cap'n," Sam cried, hurriedly rowing the boat back over to the rock. Together, the two pirates untied Santana and she slipped into the water behind them, quickly swimming back to the shore before the pirates could catch up with her again.

"Good, very good," Jeff said, sounding mightily pleased with himself.

He crawled back down to where Nick was still lying prone on the cold rock, and he placed himself down beside the brunette boy.

"Aren't I clever?" Jeff said, sounding rather proud of his achievement. Nick nodded, and hoped that Jeff did not suddenly give himself away in a moment of intense pride, as he was likely to do at any point.

"What now?" Nick asked softly, hoping that now Santana was free, they could be on their way, for it was getting towards late afternoon, and the sun was already dropping in the sky. Nick shivered, he was still mildly damp from the water, and if they did not hurry, it would soon be very cold up on such a high rock.

"We'll wait for them to leave, and then fly up to the Red Indian camp to make sure that Santana is okay," Jeff whispered back, watching the pirates closely as they began to row towards the horizon.

However, before they could get very far, there was a shout from someone on the shore in front of them.

"Ahoy, men!" came the voice of the real Hunter Clarington.

"The Cap'n!" Sam cried, quickly turning the boat around and swimming towards the beach.

Nick's eyes widened as he saw the pirate captain survey the men and see that they appeared to have misplaced their captive.

"Jeff, what do we do now?" he asked, nudging his friend next to him, but Jeff was already on his feet, and climbing as close as he could to the edge of the rock without falling into the sea below.

Sam and Puck, by now, had reached the shore, and joined their captain on the sand.

"Men, where is the prisoner?" Hunter demanded, looking down at his two subordinates, who were now almost quaking in fear.

"We let her go, sir," Puck said.

"Let her go?" Hunter cried angrily, causing Sam to actually whimper in fright.

"It was on your orders, Cap'n," he said, "We heard you. You asked us to let the prisoner go."

"I gave no such order!" Hunter said forcefully, glaring at his underlings, who had gone pale with fear.

"You did," Puck insisted, "You called to us across the water, and we did as you said."

"It was your voice, Cap'n," Sam added hastily, "If it had not been, we would have never done anything, but it was your voice."

Hunter frowned.

"What has been going on here?" he mused, looking out across the sea, and then at the lagoon; strange things happened at the lagoon, he'd always heard.

"Maybe it is the spirits in the lagoon," Sam suggested, clearly having been thinking of a similar phenomenon as the captain.

Hunter scoffed.

"There's no such thing as spirits," he said, although at that precise moment, he was struggling to find another explanation for what had just occurred.

"I don't know, Cap'n…" Sam trailed away as he glanced nervously over towards the lagoon. In the setting sun, an eerie shadow had been cast over the mermaids' home, and the rocks surrounding it appeared to protrude from the sea like great hulking monsters.

"There's only one way to settle this thing," Hunter decided, he cast a glare at the other two pirates, who were practically cowering behind him, and he stepped forward, right to the edge of the shore.

He lifted his hands to his mouth and called out into the darkness.

"Spirit of the lagoon, answer me if you are there and tell us your name!"

There was a short silence, while Nick and Jeff paused up on the rock. Nick began gesturing for Jeff to stay silent, so that the pirates would be satisfied and go back to their ship. However, Jeff was not one to let his enemy go without a fair fight, and just sitting and waiting did not appear as an option for him.

"My name is Captain Hunter Clarington!" he called in return.

Nick sighed as Jeff gave himself away, and resisted the urge to either drag the blonde boy away, but potentially give away their location; or to bang his head repeatedly against the rock in frustration, but that wouldn't help them in any way, it would just give him an awful headache.

Down on the beach, Sam and Puck were whimpering in fear.

"Maybe it is your ghost, come back to haunt you," Puck suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous," Hunter snapped, "I am very much alive, and it is not my ghost." He paused. "It is likely to be someone playing a trick on us."

Puck and Sam nodded obediently, but they didn't look any more convinced than they had done previously.

"Spirit, I am Hunter Clarington," he cried again, "And therefore, you are not me. Who did you think I was?"

"A codfish!" was the immediate reply.

"A codfish?" Hunter repeated in indignation, he went rather red in the face at this, he did not like to be fooled by anyone, yet there was someone making him look very bad at this moment.

"A codfish, a codfish, a codfish!" Jeff cried jubilantly, still speaking in Hunter's voice.

Nick uttered a hushing noise, but the blonde boy was too pleased with himself to hear his friend.

Behind Hunter, Sam and Puck were looking less scared and more amused at the mocking of their captain. Hunter turned quickly on his heel and gave them such a frightening glare, that they both went back to quivering in fright.

Hunter appeared to be lost for words though, and instead of replying to Jeff, he just stared out to sea for a while.

Jeff took this as a sign he'd won this time, and before anybody could stop him, or he could think about the consequences of his actions, he had crowed happily as loudly as possible. Beside him, Nick groaned.

The noise startled Hunter out of his thoughts on the sand below, and he smiled cruelly.

He knew that crow; in fact, everyone on the island knew it.

"That's not a spirit!" he cried, leaping back up the beach and his hand immediately went to the hilt of his sword.

"Then who is it, Cap'n?" Sam asked fearfully.

"It's Sterling! That's who it is!" Hunter replied, and the two other pirates also readied themselves for a fight.

"Jeff!" Nick cried in a panic, "You've given us away!"

The blonde boy came back down from the edge to confront his friend.

"I shall go down and fight him, Nick," Jeff said, seemingly unperturbed by the fact he'd just put them in danger, "You must stay hidden here, and I will come and get you when I get back."

He did not give any instructions for what would happen if he did not return, but Nick was trying not to think about that.

And then Jeff was gone, clambering over the rocks until he was standing on a stack just a few feet from the beach. He stood tall against the setting sun, so that its last rays illuminated him and he became a shining lone figure in amongst the dark. The sun caught his hair and made it gleam brighter than ever. From his vantage point, Nick could appreciate the fact that Jeff's position made him look even more handsome than he usually did.

"I'm here, Clarington," Jeff called to the pirate, "It is I indeed, Jeff Sterling."

Hunter's eyes narrowed at the tall figure in front of him.

"Are your boys with you, Sterling?" he asked, not wanting to make a move if he was about to be ambushed by the Warblers.

To his delight, Jeff shook his head.

"No, it's just me," he replied, holding out his arms and gesturing around himself, "So, why don't you come and fight me like a man, Clarington, instead of huddling with your men."

Hunter frowned, he did not take slights to his courage very lightly, and he immediately stepped forward, drawing his sword from his belt and weighing it up in his hands.

Jeff smiled, and plucked his own knife from his side.

"Come on, then," he said, beckoning to the pirate captain.

Hunter growled, and then charged forward, while Puck and Sam retreated hastily to the rowing boat, and practically threw themselves into it; they did not really want to be involved in the fight. Anyway, there was also the rule among the pirates that Jeff should be left to Hunter to deal with; the battle was between the two of them.

Up on his ledge, Nick crept forward slightly so that he could watch, as Jeff jumped down on the sand to face his arch enemy. Armed with only a knife, against Hunter's sword, the odds did not look as though they were in Jeff's favour. And opposite the captain, Jeff looked rather small, granted, he was maybe an inch taller, but Hunter was much more muscular. Nick stuffed his fist into his mouth and tried to muffle his cries every time it looked as though Hunter was going to overpower the blonde boy.

"Don't think that you can win every time, Sterling," Hunter threatened, as he pushed Jeff backwards up the beach.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Clarington," Jeff countered, as he ducked underneath Hunter's sword, bringing up his knife to push the blade away.

They continued for some time, both equally matched in skill and strength, so that as soon as one appeared to have the upper hand, the other would quickly even the fight out. At one point, Hunter almost had Jeff backed against the cliff face, but in the next moment, Hunter was almost teetering on the edge of the water.

Puck and Sam watched from the boat with great interest, occasionally adding in comments on the skill of their captain or to cheer him on, as though they were watching a game and not a duel.

"Just give in, Sterling," Hunter hissed, thrusting his sword particularly viciously at the boy in front of him. "You're just a child."

Jeff glared at the pirate, parrying the blow with his knife, and twisting out of Hunter's reach.

"I'm not a child!" he cried indignantly, and in that moment, he confused himself.

He'd spent his life trying not to grow up and to remain as young as he could, yet, here he was, claiming that he was no longer a child. If he wasn't a child, what was he? Surely he wasn't an adult? Jeff didn't know what an adult entailed, and he didn't know what he thought about that prospect.

Nick saw the confusion suddenly written across Jeff's face and he watched as the boy stumbled back a few paces, clearly reeling from something that did not appear to be caused by the fight.

Seeing Jeff dazed by his own realisation, Hunter sprang forward, catching Jeff with the edge of his blade, and cutting him just below his ribs.

In the space of a few seconds, several things happened.

Jeff cried out in pain and was jolted back into reality, as he clutched his side and staggered a few paces down the beach.

Puck and Sam cheered, and then went silent when Hunter turned pale and looked at them in horror as something spooked him while he was celebrating his victory.

Nick screamed in distress when he saw Jeff was hurt, but his cry was lost in the echo of the lagoon behind him. He watched as Jeff looked down to inspect the damage done to his stomach, and then he saw it as Jeff gingerly removed his hands.

Blood.

Nick gave a strangled cry at the sight of his friend's injury, and then everything went black as he toppled backwards off the rock and into the lagoon below.

* * *

**A/N: Eeek, sorry about that ending! But do go and check out my new oneshot :)**

**However, thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: So, here's the resolution to that semi-cliffhanger from last time :) Plus, there is a certain character coming to a bit of a revelation in this chapter :) Also, thank you for the response to this story :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

The silence was broken by the almighty splash that Nick's unconscious form made as it hit the water.

"What was that?" Sam asked, looking at his captain, who was still standing frozen on the water's edge.

"It came from the direction of the lagoon," Puck said, "Over there behind those large rocks."

From a few metres away, further up the beach, Jeff seemed to hear these words, and he suddenly glanced towards the lagoon boundary, a panicked expression spreading across his features as he slowly realised what had happened.

"Nick!" he cried, "Nick!"

He was met with silence from where Nick should have been, and somewhere in amongst the pain filled haze he was currently in, he knew that Nick had fallen into the water.

"He wasn't alone," Sam muttered to Puck, before turning to see what their captain was making of this revelation.

Except Hunter wasn't even listening to them, he was standing with his hand to his ear, as though he was trying to hear something in the distance. He was so focussed that he had not even considered finishing what would have been an easy victory against Jeff, since the blonde boy was injured and distracted.

"What is it, Cap'n? Sam asked, slightly worried about the lack of response from their captain.

"Quiet, fools," Hunter hushed the two pirates suddenly, and he sounded so fierce that he frightened Sam and Puck into silence.

That's when everyone on the beach, including Jeff, heard it.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

"Cap'n?" Sam whispered, finally understanding the reason for the paleness of Hunter's complexion and why he'd been frozen in place, just listening for the sound of the nearby crocodile.

Jeff was immediately forgotten as a greater danger made itself apparent to the pirate captain, and within seconds, Hunter had climbed into the rowing boat and was urging his men to row as fast as possible back to the boat.

The crocodile itself emerged from the undergrowth a few seconds later, and entered the water just behind the boat, chasing the pirates all the way back to their ship.

Jeff, meanwhile, had climbed, albeit slowly now, up onto the rocks again, and was looking down into the lagoon water. He was just in time to catch sight of one of Nick's arms disappearing under the surface.

Without thinking twice about his injury or anything else, Jeff dived from the rocks and into the water, just to the side of where Nick had been submerged. Upon entering the water, he looked around wildly for his friend, eventually seeing him, being easily pulled further underwater by Mercedes and Tina. Jeff swam over hurriedly, placing his arms around Nick's torso, and attempting to pull him from the mermaids' grip, but he was weakened from the gash in his side and the previous fight, and at first, the mermaids were winning.

However, as soon as they saw the blood staining Jeff's jacket and dripping into the water, Mercedes and Tina swam away in fright, leaving Nick in Jeff's arms.

With the last of his strength, Jeff dragged Nick through the water, and lifted him up onto the nearest rock, before clambering up as well and collapsing next to his friend.

After he'd caught his breath, Jeff checked Nick over for injuries, but the other boy appeared to be fine, just unconscious from the fall. Then Jeff turned his attention on himself; he'd been injured before, and he knew that this wasn't the worst he'd had, but he was lacking in medical supplies at that moment. He slipped his shirt over his head, and tore it into a long strip, which he then wrapped around his stomach as best he could in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.

Once he was satisfied, he laid down on the rock and turned on his side to look at the brunette boy next to him.

Nick was lucky that even though his clothes were wet, the temperature of the water and the lagoon itself was high enough that he was unlikely to suffer any sort of adverse effects from his surprise fall from the rock.

Jeff's eyes wandered from studying Nick's face, up to his hair, which was sticking up in all directions, and Jeff had to fight the urge to run his fingers through it, and move the strands out of the way of his eyes. He then allowed his gaze to travel the length of Nick's body, and then back up to the other boy's face.

A strange feeling came over Jeff at that point, he felt as though he'd violated Nick's privacy by looking at him like that, but Jeff couldn't work out why. What was wrong about looking at someone else's body? In his mind, Jeff couldn't think of anything that made it wrong, but he just had this feeling that it was.

It was like the sudden realisation from earlier when he considered that he might not be a child anymore; it was like he knew that there was something more to life but no one had ever told him what. He'd been so set in the belief that he would stay as a child forever, that he'd neglected to learn about adulthood, and therefore he had no clue what that would entail.

Love.

That was what Jeff found his thoughts drifting towards. It had always puzzled him how, in fairytales, the prince would fall in love with the princess, but he'd never truly understood the concept.

He wanted to be loved, that he'd always known, but he'd assumed that was the child in him longing for the love of his mother. Except, now, he was wondering whether there was another type of love in the world, a love that wasn't the love that a parent has for their child. For that wasn't the love shared between the prince and princess in fairytales, was it? No, they had their own special type of love.

That's when it occurred to Jeff; the prince and princess loved each other in the same way that parents and other married couples loved each other. It was that sort of love.

Jeff sighed, remembering suddenly that Nick had told him that it was possible for him to find himself a prince, and he realised that maybe he could share that sort of love with another boy. Jeff smiled happily at that thought.

Next to him, Nick had yet to wake up, and Jeff decided to pass the time just looking at his friend, but he still had a strange feeling inside of him every time he saw Nick, or touched him.

It was an odd feeling, not unpleasant, just something that he'd never felt before.

He reached up and brushed some of Nick's fringe out of his eyes, and suddenly froze when he realised what he was doing. Slowly, he lowered his hand, his mind racing as fast as possible as he tried to work out what was happening to him.

He already knew that he wanted to spend as much time with Nick as he could; he wanted to always be with the other boy, and hold him close. Wait, hold him close? Jeff didn't understand what that meant. Maybe it had something to do with the strange spark that he felt every time Nick touched him? Or was it similar to the comforting feeling he'd felt earlier when he'd been holding Nick's hand?

He didn't feel like this around the Warblers or Sebastian, nor did he feel like that around the mermaids or the fairies, and he was friends with them, so did this go beyond friendship? And what was it that was more than friendship?

Jeff knew the answer immediately, yet he still wasn't expecting it.

Love. Love was more than friendship, wasn't it?

Slowly, Jeff considered a new idea, one that frightened him slightly.

Was he in love with Nick?

And what did a person do when they loved another, but the other didn't know? Jeff very well couldn't blurt it out or just tell Nick without knowing the other boy's feelings as well, because if Nick didn't feel the same, then their friendship would be awkward, wouldn't it?

No, Jeff was just going to have to hide how he felt for as long as he could, either until he found out how Nick felt, or his own feelings disappeared.

That thought itself was mildly disappointing, but Jeff couldn't think of anything else to do. He was confused by his own feelings as it was, and nobody had ever told him that it was possible to fall in love with someone himself, so he was completely lost in his own oblivion.

"Jeff?" a slightly disorientated voice from beside him suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

"Nick?" Jeff turned around to see his friend sitting himself up and looking around at the lagoon. "Oh, thank goodness that you're okay!" He shifted over on the rock and hugged the brunette tightly, wincing slightly as his stomach injury got crushed.

"Jeff, are you alright?" Nick drew out of the embrace and only just seemed to notice that Jeff's chest was bare, while his stomach was swathed in layers of dirty cloth. "I saw you get hurt, oh, Jeff, it's not serious, is it?"

Jeff felt rather pleased at Nick's concern for him.

"It's just a scratch," Jeff said, waving Nick's worries away; it wasn't really a scratch, but Jeff didn't want to admit that he was hurt. "It's just bled a lot."

Nick nodded slowly.

"If you say that you're okay," he said, not looking entirely convinced.

Jeff laid his hand over Nick's and tried to ignore the shock of electricity that ran up his arm at the contact.

"I'm fine, honestly," Jeff said, also trying to ignore how close Nick was to him now. Nick was leaning in, getting closer, and Jeff didn't know what to do; he felt like something was about to happen, something that should have been happening, but he didn't know what it was. He leaned in a bit as well, wondering whether Nick was just going to hug him or something like that, but it was so unknown that Jeff panicked a little.

Nick, however, seemed to sense that Jeff was uncertain about what he was about to do, and even though the other boy had instinctively leaned forward as well, Nick couldn't just surprise him like that. Yes, he had just been about to kiss Jeff, completely unexpectedly, it wasn't what he'd planned, but he'd just been so concerned about Jeff that it had seemed like the right moment. But Nick couldn't see Jeff reciprocating with something he didn't know existed, and Sebastian's words were echoing around his head still, so he quickly changed his mind and hugged Jeff tightly again.

Jeff started in shock when Nick suddenly hugged him, but he understood quickly; of course, Nick had only been going in for a hug.

Their embrace was halted by Nick's sudden gasp.

"Jeff, have you seen the sea?" the brunette asked, lifting his head from the blonde's shoulder to look out across the lagoon.

"Huh?" Jeff said, also looking up, "Oh dear."

They were still perched on the same rock in the lagoon, but around them, the tide had risen and the rock was not looking quite so large any more, since almost half of it had been submerged already. The beach in the distance, where they'd first arrived that morning, was almost completely swallowed by the water, and the waves were reaching the first few trees at the top.

The only way out now was to swim or fly, but the shore was too far away for them to swim to without tiring, and anyway, the current looked too strong for them to battle through.

That left flying.

"We could fly?" Nick suggested, but Jeff shook his head.

"We're both too exhausted," he said.

And it was true, for when they tried to will themselves up into the air, they could not manage it.

"What do we do?" Nick asked, slightly fearfully, for the tide was rising particularly fast and was now just starting to get their feet wet. They scrambled further up onto the rock, bringing their knees up to their chests, and putting their arms around each other.

It appeared that that there would be no hope for them, until Nick caught sight of something drifting above the water towards them.

"I say, what's that?" he asked, pointing the object out to Jeff.

Jeff peered through the semi-darkness, and then gave a shout of joy.

"It's Thad's kite!" he cried.

"Do you think it could carry both of us?" Nick asked.

Jeff paused for thought, and then he shook his head.

"I don't think so," he said, "Thad and David tried and it wouldn't hold them."

"Then let us draw lots," Nick suggested, looking around for some seaweed that they could possibly use in the place of straws.

But while he was busy, Jeff had already caught the kite and was busying himself with the strings that were attached to it.

"No need," he said, causing Nick to stop his searching, "For you shall go with it."

"I'm not leaving you here, Jeff," the brunette protested, "I can't just let you stay on this rock by yourself, we shall have to wait for another way back to the shore."

"No, you have to take it," Jeff insisted, "I cannot have it on my conscience that I left you here, Nick."

"And you think that I can have it on mine?" Nick retorted.

"Look, Nick, if you take the kite, then maybe you can fly to the Red Indian camp, find the Warblers and send help with them," Jeff said.

"It'll be too late by then," Nick pointed out, "The tide is coming in too rapidly. Jeff, you're injured, you should go and find help."

Jeff smiled mischievously.

"Too late," he said simply.

Nick looked down suddenly and found that the kite strings had already been deftly tied around his waist and he was slowly being lifted into the air.

"Jeff!" he cried, reaching his arms out to catch hold of the blonde boy, but instead Jeff, in a moment of complete and utter surprise, pulled him back down for a second and kissed his cheek.

"Go to the Red Indian camp, Nick!" Jeff cried, releasing the other boy with a happy smile on his face.

"Jeffrey!" Nick yelled at the blonde boy, half in annoyance that he was making him leave him behind, and half because he was in shock at the fact that Jeff had just kissed him. Albeit, it was on the cheek, but it was a kiss, and it hadn't been completely initiated by Nick himself.

Progress.

* * *

Down on the rock, Jeff watched Nick's figure float away up towards the mountains; even if Nick had no idea where the Red Indian camp was, Jeff had faith that the kite would know exactly where to go. It was a Neverland kite after all.

Jeff tucked his head on top of his knees, which he had pulled up to his chest as he watched the rising water.

He'd just kissed Nick, well, on the cheek, and, in Jeff's mind, it was a thimble, but it was still something, and if the way that Nick had blushed in response was anything to go by, it appeared to be a good thing.

Jeff wasn't sure why he'd done it, but it had felt like the right thing to do at the time. Clearly this was another thing to add to the long list of feelings that were confusing him.

Now, back to more pressing matters, such as how Jeff was going to get back to the shore, and also find medical help for his injury. However, the night was starting to close in, and in almost no time at all, the rock he was perched on would be completely underwater.

Jeff could feel consciousness slipping away from him, and a cold feeling spread through his limbs like an icy fire. He couldn't find any resistance to fight it with, and it was using up the last of his strength to keep away sleep.

There was only one thought in Jeff's mind at that moment:

"To die will be an awfully big adventure."

It was silent in the lagoon at night, save for the constant splashing in the distance of the waves lapping at the shoreline. All the mermaids were asleep in their underwater caves, and even if Jeff had woken them, they would not have helped him.

Suddenly, a loud squawking filled the air, and startled Jeff back to a wakened state.

Behind him, sitting on her nest, was a Never bird.

Now, Never birds are odd creatures. They're over sized birds, larger than the average dog on the mainland, and covered in feathers that are more like large balls of fluff than anything else. They build their nests on water, and spend their days floating around from place to place. They can fly, but they often choose not to, in favour of just sitting in their nests and drifting to wherever they wish to go.

This particular Never bird had been observing from a distance the entire exchange between Nick and Jeff, and she'd always had a soft spot for Jeff anyway, so she came over to offer her services to him.

"What do you want?" Jeff asked, looking over the side of the rock and down to the bird in the water.

The bird squawked in response, flapping her wings in an attempt to get Jeff to understand her.

The blonde boy shook his head.

"I can't help you," he said, "I can't even help myself at the moment."

It wasn't until the bird actually flew off her nest and then pushed the nest nearer to the rock that Jeff realised what she wanted.

"Really?" he asked, his eyes wide with hope, "I can use your nest to reach the shore?"

The bird squawked an affirmative as Jeff carefully climbed into the nest, and then the bird flew down behind him and flapped her wings, powering the nest up towards the shore, and to safety once again.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! They're both going to be okay :) Except, I'm sorry about the almost kiss! Next chapter, the drama with Sebastian will be happening...**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: So, here's Chapter 11 with the Sebastian drama which I know that some of you will have been waiting for :) Thank you for the response to this story :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

Once on land, and after profusely thanking the Never bird, Jeff made his way up to the Red Indian camp by himself. It wasn't too far, but the climb was a little steep, and by the time that he arrived, he was almost asleep on his feet.

Nick was waiting for him just outside the ring of tents, at the top of the path that Jeff was currently staggering up.

"Jeff, oh my…Jeff!" Nick's shout caused Jeff to look up, and flash one smile at his friend, before promptly collapsing on the floor in an exhausted heap. Nick came running over immediately and, slipping one arm under Jeff's legs, and the other under the other boy's arms, he picked him up and carried him into the camp. Jeff may have been taller than Nick by a few inches, but he weighed hardly anything at all.

As Nick returned to the camp, a cry went up to summon the Warblers and the Indian chief himself. Previously, Wes and the chief had been in negotiations for an alliance, but they both came running when they were called.

"He needs medical attention," Nick said, addressing Wes, once the Warbler had reached him, "Hunter got him in the side."

"I'll fetch someone," Wes promised, leaving with an Indian brave to find someone to help.

They returned a few minutes later, and Nick was made to stand aside while they worked. He stood with the other Warblers to one side, and waited patiently until they could see their friend again.

Eventually, the crowd parted, and the Warblers surged forward, happy to see that Jeff was okay, and that he'd woken up as well.

"You scared us back there," Trent said, as they all crouched down by Jeff's side.

"Yeah, what happened at the lagoon?" David demanded.

"Was it a good fight?" Thad chipped in eagerly.

Nick and Jeff exchanged a knowing glance that went unseen by all the Warblers except Wes.

"Yes, it was a good fight," Jeff replied, "But I got distracted and Hunter managed to get me with his blade, he ran away from the crocodile after that."

The Warblers all made understanding noises, and then helped Jeff to his feet.

"You should rest," Nick said, but Jeff would hear none of it.

"I can rest later," he said firmly, "Now, Wes, I believe you were in the middle of some negotiations?"

Wes nodded, and although he wanted Jeff to rest as well, he led Jeff over to the campfire, where the Red Indians were spread out on the ground and the surrounding logs.

The chief greeted Jeff warmly, and began by expressing his gratitude to Jeff for saving his daughter, to which Jeff proclaimed that it was nothing, and that he could not just leave a girl at the hands of the nasty pirates, when he knew that he had the means to save her.

Across the fire, Santana sat next to Nick and muttered under her breath.

"I didn't need saving," she said indignantly, "I had everything under control."

The Indian braves nearby sniggered quietly to themselves at her comments. Santana fumed at the laughter, and glared at all of them in turn.

"Like you would have done anything else," she snapped, "Jeff just interrupted me in the middle of my plan, and I had enough brains to use it to my advantage, that's all."

Nick had doubts as to how much of that really was true, but Santana reminded him of Jeff in the fact that her pride wouldn't let her accept any help from anyone.

In the end, the chief was so pleased that his daughter had been returned, that he immediately promised to give them any alliance that they wanted, and from then on, whenever the Warblers would need help, they could always call on the Red Indians for assistance.

They were also offered a home up at the camp with them, to which Jeff politely declined on behalf of the Warblers, saying that they already had a home, and that they should be getting back to that anyway.

And maybe they should go home, as soon as possible really, for that is where we're going, so as not to miss the drama unfolding there at this moment.

* * *

Sebastian had spent the day doing mostly nothing. For a while, he'd just lain on his bed and contemplated new ways to prevent Nick from changing Jeff's beliefs on not growing up, and not ruining his best friend's ideals any more than he already had done.

But then the pixie had grown hungry, and he'd had to get up to make himself something to eat. As he was eating, he thought about filling all of the pots, pans and mugs that he owned with hot water and tipping them all over Nick's head once he returned to the hideout; but he'd already done that once before, and Nick had not reacted in the manner that Sebastian had wanted him to.

He continued in much the same way for the rest of the day, and throughout the night, and even into the next morning, by which time, Jeff and the Warblers still had yet to return to the hideout.

Sebastian did wonder what had happened to them, but they'd previously been away for longer than a day before, and so he wasn't particularly concerned. The only thing that did worry him was the thought that Nick and Jeff were having their private adventure for a second day running, and therefore, there would be more of a chance for Nick to corrupt Jeff while Sebastian wasn't there to watch over his actions.

Eventually, after coming to the conclusion that he was not going to come to any good ideas for ways to cause mischief, the pixie decided that he would go outside and get some fresh air. He also thought that he might pay a visit to a few of the fairies, and see if they could give him any advice on how to deal with Nick; usually, he'd want to deal with something like this on his own, but he knew that the fairies were just as protective of Jeff as he was, and so they might have some good ideas.

If Sebastian was honest, his plan was going well, and he'd had a few more ideas as to his Nick situation, plus he'd also just remembered a new shortcut to the fairies' home in the woods, and he was heading there at that moment.

Now, Sebastian spent most of his time on his utmost guard when he travelled alone, for who could say what bird or beast might leap out of nowhere and knock him from the sky? But in one instant, he'd fallen slightly from the sky as he rejoiced on thinking up a new scheme, and he was just the right height for a hand to suddenly shoot out and pull him from the air. His first thought was that it as Jeff, returned from his adventure, and extremely eager to share his success with the pixie as soon as he could, but Sebastian quickly realised that was not the case.

No, whoever it was who had grabbed him was not familiar to him. Thinking quickly, Sebastian did the only thing he could, and he bit down on the person's finger.

Whoever it was yelped in pain, and for a moment, they loosened their grip and Sebastian flew back into the air. But his victory was short-lived as the person hurriedly recovered themselves and clasped him tightly again, this time placing him in their pocket before the pixie could see who his captor was.

Under all the swathes of cloth, Sebastian could not find his way out, and so he was forced to stay trapped until someone came to release him.

When they finally did, Sebastian found that he was now in completely unfamiliar surroundings, and he was now also indoors. The room he was in was dark, although there was a little light from a window that was too high for the pixie to look out from. In front of him was a large wooden cabinet, which looked as though it was tightly locked, while he, himself, was sitting on top of what appeared to be a desk.

He wondered how he'd got there. The last thing he remembered was being placed in someone's pocket, and somehow he must have been unconscious between then and waking up, because he couldn't remember a thing.

Groaning softly, he stood up, and took a step forward, hoping to get close enough to the far off window so that he could see where he was, except he found that was halted by a pane of glass. Letting out a cry of frustration, he turned around and discovered that there was glass all around him, and that he appeared to be encased inside a lamp.

He beat his hands on the glass and tried yelling for someone to tell him what was going on and where he was.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a new voice suddenly filled the room, and the light of a number of candles illuminated the speaker.

Hunter Clarington.

Sebastian growled at the sight of the captain, and as the room gave a lurch, the pixie realised that he was aboard the pirate ship.

"What do you want from me?" he demanded angrily, but Hunter just smiled.

"I'm going to let you out," the captain said, walking over, and putting his hand on the latch for the lamp, "But only if you promise to behave, otherwise I shall just lock you up again."

Sebastian growled again, but nodded quickly.

"Good," Hunter said, unclasping the lamp and letting Sebastian fly out.

"You didn't answer my question," Sebastian said, alighting on the desk in front of Hunter, "What do you want from me?"

Hunter sat down.

"I'll be asking the questions," he said coldly, "But I shall give you that one; I need a favour from you."

"I don't owe you anything," Sebastian spat, "You'll be getting no favours from me."

Hunter laughed and leaned back in his chair.

"Of course you don't owe me anything," he said craftily, "But if you give me this favour, I am willing to offer you something in return."

"Like what?" Sebastian asked, looking at the pirate warily.

"I know that you dislike the new boy, what's his name? Oh, yes, Nick," Hunter said, surprising Sebastian completely; the pixie had not been expecting the pirate to have had any knowledge of that at all, but Hunter Clarington had a way of knowing things that other people didn't want him to know.

"So what if I do?" Sebastian asked, folding his arms across his chest defensively, "What is it to you?"

Hunter's lips curled into a smirk; he had the pixie exactly where he wanted him, and he had leverage to help him get what he wanted.

"I will make you a proposition," he said, "I will get rid of your little problem, if you do something for me."

Sebastian still didn't look convinced.

"It's not a big favour," Hunter convinced, "Not at all, it requires almost no effort at all. And I know that you can do it for me, as easy as anything."

Sebastian considered the pirate captain's offer. He did want Nick gone, but he thought that he could do that himself, couldn't he? Yet how had his success rate been so far? Not very good if he was honest with himself; he'd threatened Nick, but the other boy had still gone off alone with Jeff. And Hunter Clarington did seem to be the sort of man who could be trusted to keep his word on every promise, as well as the sort of person who had the means to get rid of Nick quickly and efficiently.

But what was this favour that he wanted? It could be potentially damaging, but was it worth the risk? In the end, Sebastian decided that it could be.

"Alright, what is this favour?" he asked.

Hunter smiled cruelly again.

"I knew you'd come around," he said.

He sat up in his chair, and began shuffling through the papers that he had on the desk in front of him, before he selected one, and laid it down in front of him, yet it was still obscured by the edge of the desk for Sebastian.

"The favour is this: I have a map of the island here, and I want one tiny bit of information from you," Hunter explained, pausing for dramatic effect, "I want the location of Sterling's hideout."

The shock of Hunter's request caused Sebastian to start spluttering in shock.

"You want what?" the pixie cried, "No, I won't do it!"

"We had a deal, Sebastian," Hunter reminded him coolly, "And I don't think you want to retract your agreement now, the forfeit is much worse."

Sebastian sighed.

"I have one condition," he decided, "You do not harm Jeff."

Hunter considered this proposition for a while, before nodding.

"Not the Warblers, just Sterling?" he asked finally.

Sebastian was torn over this one, because the Warblers, to him, were a tolerable group of boys, but his priority was Jeff.

"Yes, just Jeff," Sebastian agreed.

"Fine," Hunter spoke through gritted teeth.

This development gave him a slight problem; the entire point of this deal was that he could find Sterling's hideout and get the boy once and for all, but now he was promising not to harm him. Where was the sense in that? No, Hunter decided that he would have to alter his plans a little.

Originally, he'd wanted to take Jeff from his hideout and bring him aboard the ship, but that would reveal to the pixie in front of him that he'd broken his deal. And so, Hunter realised that he would have to secretly deal with Jeff at his hideout and by himself, for the boy was unlikely to be tricked out of his home easily.

"You have to fulfil your end of the bargain now," the pirate captain instructed, moving the map in front of Sebastian. "Just dip your finger in this ink and make a cross where the hideout is."

Slowly, and feeling incredibly guilty, Sebastian inked his finger and drew a cross on the location of the Warbler's home; the ink was as black as the pixie feared that his soul had become with the deal he had just made.

"Thank you," Hunter said, smirking as he picked Sebastian up and placed him back into the lantern, locking the door securely.

"Wait, what are you doing?" the pixie cried, beating his fists against the glass. "I thought the deal had been done, let me go!"

Hunter bent down, so that his face was level with Sebastian's own.

"Our deal is done," he said, "But I can't have you flying to warn your little friends, can I?"

He smirked again and then left the room.

Alone again, Sebastian slumped down onto the base of the lamp. There was something about the pirate captain that made him want to like him as much as he hated him. Yes, there was something that had drawn the pixie in, and there was something in the way that when Hunter had touched him, Sebastian's skin had tingled afterwards.

With a groan, Sebastian realised what had happened.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Warblers had finally arrived home, only to discover that Sebastian was missing from the hideout.

"Where do you think he's gone?" Thad asked, peering quickly into the pixie's sacred alcove, just to make sure that he wasn't home.

Jeff shrugged.

"He could have gone anywhere," he said, "He does disappear sometimes like this. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

The Warblers all nodded and agreed that Sebastian had the tendency to leave the hideout without warning, but Nick couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when he thought about where the pixie might have gone.

"Jeff, are sure that he wouldn't have left some sort of note as to where he would be going?" the brunette asked, still not looking overly convinced, and from the way that Wes was frowning thoughtfully, he guessed that he was also having doubts.

But the blonde boy appeared to be slightly preoccupied by something, and he merely shrugged again.

Unfortunately for Jeff, he had been hoping to speak to Sebastian about the strange feelings that he'd been having, but the pixie had deserted him when he needed it most; and Jeff couldn't help feeling rather annoyed with his best friend.

"Let's have a story, Nick," Jeff said rather shortly, and he threw himself down onto his bed to listen. The rest of the Warblers began clearing away some space to sit down, while Wes cast a worried glance at the blonde boy; something strange was definitely going on with him.

As the Warblers were fussing around with tables, chairs and misplaced saucers, Nick crossed the room to perch himself on the edge of Jeff's bed. There was something that he needed to address with his friend, and he needed an answer before he went ahead with the story.

As Nick sat down, the blonde boy looked up at him with tired eyes and sighed heavily.

"Jeff, I need to ask you something," Nick said seriously, "And I need you to answer me truthfully."

Jeff nodded, but he didn't look like he particularly cared about what the brunette was about to say.

"Jeff, what are your exact feelings for me?" Nick asked.

The question came as such a shock to Jeff that he opened and closed his mouth several times before closing it firmly while he considered his answer. What were Jeff's feelings? He couldn't very well tell Nick that he thought he might like him in the way that prince and princesses did in fairytales, especially since Jeff himself still wasn't entirely sure of the meaning of that yet. He had an inkling, yes, but he couldn't just blurt that out to his friend.

To Nick, Jeff's silence was enough for the doubt to completely settle in his mind, for he believed that if Jeff did have deeper feelings for him, then he would have been able to answer his question immediately and without a thought.

As Nick's expression turned from one of hope to a hardened look of disappointment, Jeff lost his nerve completely, and all courage abandoned him.

"You are my dearest friend," he said, giving the other boy a weak smile.

Nick nodded, having already resigned himself to rejection.

"Of course," he said, "I thought as much."

He got up and gave Jeff an equally weak smile as the one the other boy had given him.

"Now, on with that story."

* * *

**A/N: Aww, sad Niff moment, I guess it probably feels like they're going backwards, but Jeff is confused at this point... But something big has just happened to Sebastian...I wonder if anyone knows what it is? :)**

**Also, I have to say that I think there will only be 4/5 more chapters to this story, including an epilogue, because if you know the story of Peter Pan, you will know that it is not a particularly long book or film :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: So, on with Chapter 12! I hope you enjoy this one as it sets the scene for the drama that will be happening in the next few chapters :) Also, thank you for the lovely response to this story so far - do you think this chapter could make it to 60 reviews, pleeeease? :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

The Warblers stopped whatever chores or tasks that they had been doing and immediately gathered around Nick so that they could listen to his story; it could have been one that he'd already told, but they still would have been just as attentive. David sat on an upturned box, while Wes sat next to him on the old rocking chair that they owned. Thad was sitting on an ancient stool which was missing a leg, while Trent sat on the floor, his legs drawn up to his chest, and his chin resting on his knee.

Jeff, however, remained lying on his bed across the room, his eyes fixed determinately on the ceiling, and refusing to even acknowledge anyone else in the room; though whether this was out of defiance or because he was lost in his own confused thoughts was debatable.

Nick threw his blonde friend a look as he settled himself on the nearest wooden chair, but as much as he tried, he could not find a comfortable seated position; it was as though he was not able to relax when the other boy was not acting normally either.

As Nick tried to think up a story that the Warblers would have never heard before, his mind wandered back to thoughts of Kurt, Blaine and the orphanage.

He'd never been away from home as long as he'd been in Neverland, in fact he'd never been away from home before at all; and, if truth be told, he was beginning to feel rather homesick. The thought that he might have been able to have Jeff reciprocate his feelings had kept him from dwelling on his longing for London, but now that flame of hope had been extinguished, he was left feeling rather empty and lost.

"I thought I'd tell a rather different story tonight," he said eventually to the waiting Warblers seated in front of him, "It's one about a place that's not too far from here, yet also very distant."

The Warblers regarded this statement with interest, with only Wes fully understanding the significance of what Nick was about to tell them.

Nick paused again, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"England," he started, "In particular, London, England."

The boys all nodded, they'd all come from London, but their memories of the place itself were becoming faint and incomplete due to the fact that hadn't been there in a very long time.

"London's wonderful," Nick said, a dreamy smile crossing his face as he remembered all of the experiences he'd had in the city itself, "With its great buildings, and the parks, and the mystery of so many different places."

"Tell us about London," Trent prompted, "We've forgotten so much of it."

"Well, there's St. Paul's Cathedral," Nick began, "With its towering domed roof, and some of the most beautiful statues of the saints around it. Then, there's the Clock Tower, which houses the bell of Big Ben; it tolls across Westminster and we used to stand under it and wait for it to chime upon the hour when we visited." He laughed a little when he thought about the times that they'd all pretended to be clocks as well, and had practised their own version of the bell itself; they'd all been so young then.

"Tell us more," David insisted quickly, enjoying hearing about somewhere that seemed so familiar, yet also completely foreign.

"Last year, we stood on Hyde Park Corner," Nick said, "All of us, and we watched King Edward's funeral procession. I'd never seen so much finery before, we'd never been poor, but the sheer amount of gold everywhere was overwhelming. And then there were the crowds, thousands of people lining the streets to wave flags and pay their respects."

"What about Kensington Gardens?" Wes asked calmly, being the only Warbler, except Jeff, to remember the exact names of certain London landmarks.

"Ah, Kensington Gardens," Nick said with a smile, he had some of his best memories there, "We used to go there for picnics almost every Saturday afternoon in the summer, all of us would sit in the sunshine and play games. We had so much fun, and we'd have a huge basket of food that we could never finish, and then we'd all have lemonade and eat special jam sandwiches; one time, we even had a whole chicken to eat!"

Again, Nick paused while the Warblers' faces all lit up at the thought of so much food.

"And just around the corner of Kensington Gardens is an especial building," he continued, "It's not a particularly fancy building, it's not a palace nor is it in the latest fashion, but it's cosy enough and it's my home."

As Nick spoke, the atmosphere in the room changed. Nick realised that he was still thinking of the orphanage as his home, and an almost crippling barrage of homesickness hit him suddenly. Over in the corner, Jeff rolled over on his bed and faced the wall, a single tear falling down his cheek as Nick confirmed that he didn't think of Neverland as his home, and that he wanted to go home. Meanwhile, Wes was the only Warbler to notice the tension appearing in the room, the rest were still eager to learn more about this orphanage and London instead.

"Oh, tell us about your home," Thad insisted, "What was it like?"

"Did you have any brothers or sisters?" David inquired.

"What was your mother like?" Trent asked.

Nick surveyed the waiting expressions in front of him, and had to hold back the urge to burst into tears when he thought about the orphanage.

"I don't have a mother," he said, "Nor any brother or sisters, for my home was an orphanage. But it was run by a couple, Mr and Mrs Schuester, and they brought me up, along with a number of other children. I don't really have any siblings, but I think of the other orphans as my own family, especially Kurt and Blaine; they're my best friends."

Another tear slipped down Jeff's face at this; he'd thought that he was Nick's best friend.

"I wonder what Kurt and Blaine are doing now," Nick mused, "Do they wonder about where I am? Are they missing me?" He choked on tears. "What have they told the other children? What if they think I've abandoned them all?"

The Warblers were lost for words; they had no response for Nick's sudden reminiscing and nostalgia for his friends and home in London.

"It sounds like a wonderful place," Trent said almost sadly, "I wish I could have seen it."

"Me too," David said, and soon Thad and Wes were chiming in with their own agreements.

At first, Nick didn't seem to hear them, for he appeared to have entered a rather trance-like state, but then he suddenly broke himself free and addressed the other boys.

"You could come back with me," he said.

"You're going back?" Wes asked, still as calm as ever.

"I have to," Nick sounded almost desperate at that point, "I left without an explanation; I abandoned my family."

Wes bowed his head solemnly.

"I see your predicament," he said, although internally he wanted to persuade the other boy to change his mind and stay in Neverland with them, with Jeff, but he'd heard Jeff's answer to Nick's earlier question, and the blonde boy had almost confirmed Nick's decision with his words.

"I'd like to go," Trent was the first of the Warblers to speak, "I thought London wasn't for me, but now I want to see a place that cares for even those without mothers."

"Me too," David said.

"It sounds like another adventure," Thad said.

"I'll go too," Wes added, although he was not going out of curiosity, like the other boys, but instead to keep an eye on Nick and to try and get him to return.

"And Jeff, what about you?" Nick asked, looking up at the blonde boy, who was still staring at the wall from his bed.

Jeff was startled by the sound of the brunette's voice, and he quickly dried his tears, for he would not be seen crying in front of the boys he was supposed to lead. He was heartbroken to hear that all of his friends wanted to leave and go to London; even Sebastian seemed to have abandoned him at that moment, though we know that it was through no choice of the pixie's own.

But in the back of Jeff's head, his pride stopped him from believing that the Warblers were really leaving, he knew that they'd come back to him eventually; he couldn't imagine them staying in London, but instead wanting to return and be in Neverland with him.

"No, I think I should stay here," Jeff said defiantly, hoping that if he refused, then the other boys would as well, "I don't need to go to London, and I certainly don't need a mother. Anyway, I wouldn't want to grow up."

"Oh, Jeff, do come with us," Wes tried to persuade his friend, "Maybe it'll be different this time around?"

"I doubt it," Jeff retorted sullenly, "I shall be waiting here for when you inevitably return."

"But what if we don't return?" Nick asked, looking hard at the blonde boy.

Jeff scoffed.

"Then I'll still be here," he replied sharply, "I shan't change my mind. But you'll be back, I know it."

The Warblers and Nick stood up slowly and headed to the door, all muttering their goodbyes as they went.

"Jeff hates goodbyes," Thad whispered, partly to reassure himself that was why his friend was acting strangely, and partly to almost apologise for the lack of dismay that Jeff appeared to be showing as his friends left.

"Goodbye, Jeff," Nick said softly, as he was the last to depart.

Jeff looked up from his seat on the bed, but did not smile.

"Goodbye, Nick," he said solemnly.

Nick nodded hurriedly and disappeared.

"They'll be back," Jeff murmured to himself, as he rolled over and faced the wall again, "They won't make it halfway to London before they're back again."

* * *

However, just outside the hideout, a lantern was set on a tree stump, the candle flickering nervously, and casting an eerie shadow over the whole clearing. Behind the afore-mentioned lantern, stood the menacing figure of one Hunter Clarington, watching silently over his men and the entrance to the Warbler's hideout.

And where are his men, you say? For once you allow your eyes to become accustomed to the dark, you can see them. Puck stands behind a tree, twisting a rope apprehensively in his arms. Finn is just off to his left, crouching behind a bush that barely hides him. Artie is also hidden behind a bush, his own length of rope resting in his lap. And finally, Mike is perched on the lowest branch of an overhead tree, his eyes fixed intently on where Hunter has said the hideout is located.

After what appeared to be hours for the pirates, the rarely used main entrance to the hideout creaked open and the first of the Warblers, Trent, emerged. He was quickly followed by Thad, and the two of them stood blinking at the oddly placed lantern; but before they even had a chance to register what was happening, Finn and Puck had leapt out of their hiding places, and gagged and bound the two boys.

David appeared next, he saw the figures of his two friends being dragged somewhere, and as he looked in that direction, Artie appeared behind him, binding his hands behind his back and gagging him, before pulling him into the undergrowth.

After David came Wes, he was more cautious than the other Warblers, but even he did not anticipate Mike dropping down from above him, tackling him to the ground suddenly and tying his hands with the coarse rope and stopping him from crying out in shock.

There was a pause after that, in which Hunter became impatient as he waited for Nick to appear. He was not expecting Jeff anymore, for he had overheard the Warblers' conversation, and he had already devised his own means of ridding himself of his nemesis without him leaving the hideout.

Eventually, the door opened again, and Nick came out, looking dejected, yet also determined. He took in the lantern in front of him, and the lack of Warblers.

"Wes?" he asked nervously, but he'd barely said his friend's name, when he was roughly seized by the arms, and his wrists were bound.

"Don't scream," a familiar voice warned him, "It'll be worse for you if you scream."

"Clarington," Nick gulped out, attempting to twist himself around to look at the pirate, but the captain had an iron-like grip on him.

"Nicholas, isn't it?" Hunter sneered, "How nice to make your acquaintance finally, such a shame that Sterling didn't introduce us sooner."

"Let me go," Nick wriggled desperately, "What do you want with me or the Warblers?"

Hunter laughed.

"I don't want anything with you," he said, "I want Sterling and the Warblers. Your little friend Sebastian sends his regards to _you_."

Nick gritted his teeth in frustration; of course, it would have been Sebastian.

"Don't you dare harm Jeff or the Warblers," Nick threatened, but he was sure that it was in vain.

"How sweet of you," Hunter mocked, "Defending your friends like that. I wouldn't waste your time though, Sterling rejected you, didn't he?"

Nick hung his head; even Hunter knew that Jeff didn't want him.

"Now, we've stayed too long already," the captain spoke up, "Men, take the prisoners back to the ship, I have some unfinished business here." He thrust Nick at Puck, who made the brunette march alongside Trent.

"Don't worry," Trent whispered, "Jeff will come and save us."

Nick murmured his hope that Trent would be right, but in his mind, he knew that Jeff thought they'd abandoned him for London, and he would not think their absence strange.

* * *

As the pirates hurried into the darkness, Hunter bent down behind the tree stump and picked up an object that was placed on the ground. He lifted it to his ear and nodded in satisfaction, before opening the main entrance to the hideout and slipping it inside. As he swung the lantern over it, the object almost gleamed in the candlelight; shiny paper covered its outside, and it was topped with a brightly coloured bow.

Odd, you might think, Hunter Clarington leaving Jeff Sterling a present. But this was no ordinary present, for it made a noise.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

Yet this wasn't the crocodile in the vicinity at all, and the sound came from inside the present itself.

A time bomb.

Hunter laughed to himself, and then hurried away through the trees.

It was a brightly coloured box that made a curious noise; Jeff wouldn't be able to resist opening it.

Perfect.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside a darkened room, and enclosed in a small glass lantern case, sat a rather disgruntled and fed up Sebastian. He'd been tricked, he was sure of it, yet he couldn't prove it, and anyway, Hunter had given his word that Jeff would not be harmed.

But what good was Hunter's word? Could the most fearsome and duplicitous pirate ever known be trusted on something as weak as a promise?

Yet, there was always the knowledge that Hunter could be dealing with Nick, as Sebastian wanted, and he didn't want that chance to be ruined.

Outside, the sounds of Sam mopping the deck could be heard clearly, and Sebastian was rather grateful that he was the only pirate left onboard, for he felt that the others were always too loud and violent for his tastes.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang as the door was opened and the wind caught it, slamming it against the opposite wall.

"Sorry," came Sam's apology, as he entered the room and stumbled around a little in the darkness, having forgotten to bring a candle with him.

Hurriedly, Sebastian lay down and pretended to be fast asleep. Fortunately, Sam believed the pixie to be sleeping; for if he had known more about fairies or pixies, he would have realised that Sebastian must have been awake, since his light had not been extinguished.

"It's such a shame that the captain had to lie to you," Sam said sadly, glancing over at the pixie with a sorrowful expression.

Inside the lantern, Sebastian's heart skipped a beat; he'd known it all along, but what had Hunter truly lied about?

"I know you didn't want Jeff harmed," Sam continued, unaware that he was being listened to, "But the captain had to do it, that's why he's taken that time bomb to your hideout."

Sam shook his head and then disappeared back outside onto the upper deck.

As soon as the door had slammed shut again, Sebastian flew up in a panic, remembering just as he bumped his head that he was inside of a lantern.

But he had to get out, he had to find Jeff and tell him what Hunter was planning. But would he be too late? He had to try, regardless. If only he could free himself from his glass prison, for he had to leave immediately.

Jeff was far too innocent for something as sophisticated as a bomb; he would be so intrigued by it that he would not realise it was dangerous.

Suddenly, Sebastian was struck with an idea, and he cursed himself for not having thought about it before. Carefully, he positioned himself on one side of the lantern, and then he flew forcefully into the other side. The lantern wobbled and moved a little closer to the edge of the desk.

Sebastian repeated his actions, and the lantern eventually ended up perched on the very end of the desk. In one swift movement, the lantern, and Sebastian, clattered to the floor. The glass smashed upon impact with wooden floorboards, and Sebastian was lucky that none of it caught him as he flew upwards and into the air.

He reached the window in record time, and had the good fortune to find it unlatched. It swung open easily, and soon Sebastian was flying up into the darkening evening.

If only he could be in time to save Jeff.

* * *

**A/N: So, the real drama starts next chapter! :) Also, my next oneshot should be up soon, so keep an eye out for it - I haven't thought of a name yet, so I can't tell you what it'll be called :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought! :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Here's Chapter 13 for you! I'm sorry about the longer wait for this chapter, but after this updates will become less frequent than previously, although I will still be writing for this story and working on the two remaining oneshots :) Thank you for the wonderful response to this story :)**

**Also, I'm sure that many of you have already seen this, but I have posted the oneshot (that turned into a twoshot) prompt from ****_Kiwi_**** and it is called ****_For King and Country_**** :)**

_**Kiwi**_**, I couldn't reply to you via PM so I just wanted to say that I'm so glad that you liked the twoshot - thank you for giving me an awesome prompt! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

Jeff lay back on his bed and stared aimlessly at the ceiling. Any minute now, the door would open and the Warblers and Nick would come traipsing back into the hideout, having given up on their flight to London because they'd realised that staying in Neverland with him was a much better option.

Jeff counted softly to himself as he waited for the door to…wait, wasn't that the door now? Jeff was so busy congratulating himself on his perfect timing that it took him several moments to realise that the door had slammed, but nobody had entered the hideout.

"Curious," he muttered to himself as he got up from the bed, and carefully went towards the door.

As he'd rightly suspected there was no returned Warbler there, just a brightly wrapped box, with a rather garish bow tied on top of it. Jeff frowned at the present. It was so strange and unexpected, yet also rather welcome in his mind; for was this present just the sort of adventure that he needed to take his mind off of the fact that his friends appeared to have deserted him?

He moved a step closer, and reached out his hands for the box.

Don't do it, Jeff, don't pick it up and take it away. Open the door and throw it as far away as possible, just don't take it further into the hideout.

But it's no use, no matter how much we shout and yell at him, he can't hear us, and even if he could, he'd ignore us; for here is a chance for an adventure, and Jeff Sterling never turns down an adventure.

As Jeff turned the present around, he noticed the large label tied onto the bow itself.

Hunter Clarington's stroke of genius in his plot.

"I wonder who would send me a present," Jeff mused to himself, as he plucked the note from the box and held it up so that he could read it, only to groan in frustration when he realised that he couldn't because he'd turned down the lessons from Wes a long time ago.

He was about to tear the label into several pieces angrily when he halted himself. Wait, there were only two words written on the paper, at least, Jeff thought that it was only two words, for that was what it was called when there was a space in the middle of them, wasn't it? Oh, how he wished that he'd paid more attention to Wes.

Slowly, he began to sound the words out; he knew his letters, fortunately.

"L, o, v, e," he said to himself, "Lo…vee. No, love, that's it!"

He crowed in happiness at his success.

"Now for the next one," he continued, "N, i, c, k. Ni…ck, ah well, that's easy: Nick."

He frowned.

"Love, Nick," he murmured, "Nick's sent me a present! Well, I assume that it's for me, since he's left with the others and he's unlikely to send Sebastian something." He grinned to himself. "I wonder what's inside."

He lifted it to his ear and shook it little. There was the sound of something, but the box and the paper muffled the ticking noise of the bomb.

Jeff carried the present further into the room and sat back down on his bed. He placed the box on his lap and stared at it for a little while longer. This truly was exciting for him; he'd never received a proper present before, at least, not one that came with colourful paper on it or with a neatly written label as well.

With a smile on his face as he thought of Nick, he reached for the bow, and began working to undo it.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sebastian was flying rather erratically as he tried his utmost to fly faster than he ever had before, while also avoiding meeting the pirates, who he knew had left the ship for the island shore earlier. Of course, he did not know what they were doing on the island, and even if he had, it is debatable whether he would have stopped to help free the Warblers, for Jeff was his priority at that moment.

He caught sight of the pirates' lanterns at one point as they were swinging in the early evening breeze, and they suddenly illuminated the sullen faces of the Warblers and Nick.

Sebastian almost fell out of the sky in shock; clearly this was all part of the plan that Hunter had for dealing with Nick, then. Jeff, he noticed, was not among their party, and he continued to fly onwards for the hideout. Part of him thought that he should have tried to help the others, but they were not under the immediate risk of a bomb, like Jeff was, and anyway, the pixie could do more good when he had Jeff at his side to help him.

It was only when Sebastian reached the other side of the woods that he realised that when he'd avoided the pirates, he managed to fly off course and end up further away from the hideout than he should have done.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically to himself, as he was forced to fly all the way from one side of the island to the other to return to the hideout again. If he was too late to save Jeff, he didn't know what he would do.

Eventually, he found himself within the familiar clearing, and he quickly dived down the nearest entrance that he could find, and flew into the hideout.

Slightly dizzy from the descent, he righted himself, and looked around for Jeff.

He spotted him almost immediately, his blonde head bent over a strange looking present that Sebastian had never seen before. The pixie easily put two and two together and figured out what the wrapped box was.

The bomb.

Without even formulating a proper plan or thinking twice about it, he flew towards his friend. He stretched his arms out in front of him, and with as much force as he could muster, he flew into the present and knocked it from Jeff's grasp.

The box tumbled from the bed and fell into the opposite corner of the hideout. Fortunately for Jeff, he was now reasonably far from the bomb; unfortunately for Sebastian, he'd been flying at such a speed that he couldn't stop immediately, and he went hurtling into the corner with the bomb, which was still ticking steadily.

Suddenly, the ticking ceased and the pixie had time to hear Jeff call his name, before there was an almighty explosion and everything went black.

* * *

"Sebastian?" Jeff asked, as he looked curiously in the direction of the present, which was now sitting in the corner of the hideout, having previously been perched on his lap. There was faint glow behind the box, and since something had flown into the room and knocked the present from his grasp, he assumed that it was his best friend.

However, as soon as the name had left his mouth, there was a sudden loud noise, and the corner of the room exploded into smoke and dust.

Jeff was flung to the floor with the force of the blast, but, within seconds, he was back on his feet again, and scrambling through the debris towards the corner again. He didn't have a clue what had just happened, but he knew that Sebastian was in amongst all the damage somewhere.

The blonde boy started throwing everything in his way behind him as he searched desperately for the tiny pixie, but it appeared to be in vain. He wondered where he could have disappeared to; not even magical creatures could just vanish into thin air.

Just as Jeff was about to give up and assume that he'd completely imagined seeing his best friend in the first place, he caught sight of a faint light under a scorched piece of wrapping paper.

Carefully, he lifted the corner and discovered that he had been right; underneath it was the crumpled figure of his friend.

"Sebastian?" he called softly, willing the pixie to wake up, "Seb?"

Sebastian did not stir, he did not even twitch.

Panicking now, Jeff scooped him up into his palm and cradled him against his chest.

Surely Seb couldn't be dead? Jeff couldn't imagine the pixie ever dying; he was so full of life that he had seemed like he would be around forever, no matter what happened to him. But now his light was slowly fading, and before long it would go out completely.

This was how Jeff knew that his friend wasn't merely sleeping, for otherwise his light would have been extinguished already. No, this was worse, and if Seb's light went out while he was like this, it would go out forever, never to relight.

"Seb?" Jeff tried again, shaking his friend as well.

This time the pixie started coughing violently, before weakly opening his eyes.

"Is it over?" he asked, looking up at Jeff, who nodded. "Oh, good."

He tried to stand up in Jeff's hands, but his legs gave way beneath him, and he had to satisfy himself by propping himself on his hands as he was lying down.

"Everything hurts," he said hoarsely, gasping for breath as though just talking pained him.

Jeff didn't reply, he just let a single tear trail down his face, and drop silently onto his jacket. He didn't know what to say; he didn't want Sebastian to die, but he didn't exactly know what to do.

"What can I do?" he asked finally, "How can I help you?"

"Not yet," the pixie said with a small smile, "I'll tell you once I've confessed something."

"No," Jeff ordered, "Tell me now."

Sebastian shook his head.

"I won't," he said stubbornly, "Just in case it doesn't work and I waste the time I could have used to tell you something very important."

"There's nothing more important than saving you!" Jeff insisted, but it was to no avail, for his best friend was adamant that he would only give him the means to save himself once he was ready to do so.

"I'm really sorry, Jeff," Sebastian said suddenly, and the blonde almost jumped; the last thing he'd expected Seb's important message to be was an apology.

"For what?" Jeff asked, "You don't have to be sorry for anything."

Sebastian vehemently shook his head.

"I do," he said, "I've been downright rude to Nick, and I need to apologise for it."

"Then why apologise to me and not Nick personally?"

"Because of what I said to Nick," Seb explained, "It affected you too, Jeff, even if you didn't know it."

Jeff frowned.

"Alright," he said slowly, "Go on."

"I did it for you in the first place, Jeff, you have to understand that; I thought that Nick would get you hurt, and I couldn't let that happen to you."

"How would Nick hurt me? We didn't go on any really dangerous adventures, well, apart from maybe the lagoon, but that wasn't his fault, and you can't have known that would happen, Seb," Jeff protested.

"No, I didn't mean hurt physically," the pixie clarified, "I meant emotionally. If I'd just let him do what he wanted in the first place, he would have forced you to grow up, and I knew that you didn't want that."

"But he couldn't force me to age," Jeff said, "You can't do that in Neverland."

"Again, I didn't mean physically," Sebastian smiled, "I meant mentally; in the way that you act."

Jeff faltered slightly.

"But why would Nick want to do that to me?" he asked softly.

"Because he was in love with you," Sebastian said with a small smile, "He still is, Jeff, and I know that you feel the same way. I could see that it was going to happen, but that you wouldn't understand what it was, and for me to explain it, you'd have to stop thinking like a child and think more like an adult."

"But I don't want to be an adult," Jeff said, but the doubt was already creeping into his voice.

"But you love Nick more than you want to stay a child," Seb summed up exactly how Jeff was feeling with one sentence.

Wordlessly, the blonde nodded.

"And I should have told you straight away about your feelings," the pixie continued, "But I didn't, and that was wrong. I don't want you to spend the rest of your life being lonely and unloved, Jeff, that's an awful feeling." He quickly compared it to his own life; if Jeff couldn't save him later, then he'd die having never connected with his true love, which was a dreadful shame, since he had had a previous chance to do that, and he hadn't done it. "So, Jeff, what I'm saying is that you need to tell Nick exactly how you feel, let him know how much you love him."

"How do I do that?" Jeff asked, still looking very bewildered by Sebastian's admission.

The pixie thought for a second.

"Kiss him," he said simply, "You can talk to him properly afterwards, but at this point you'll need something quick that'll still explain everything."

Jeff frowned as he remembered what a kiss was, well, his version of a kiss, and he began to fumble with the buttons on his jacket, trying to get another one off to give to Nick.

Sebastian let out a small laugh.

"Jeff, that's not a kiss," he said gently, weakly placing one of his tiny hands onto Jeff's own to halt his actions. "Nick didn't mean to confuse you, but you confused _him_ when you held out your hand for a kiss. You don't get kisses like that, he gave you a thimble when he meant a kiss; what you think is a thimble is actually a kiss."

"Oh," Jeff said quietly, starting to feel rather embarrassed about his lack of knowledge, "But wait, if this is how I express my feelings, then why didn't that happen when Nick kissed me in the first place?" He stumbled slightly over the word 'kissed' since it still felt very strange to say.

"He kissed you on the cheek, Jeff," Sebastian said, "You have to kiss him on the lips, that way he'll know how you feel."

The blonde boy nodded slowly, for this was a lot for him to take in. There was just one more question that he had for his friend.

"Seb, are there any more physical things that I need to know about if I love Nick?" he asked.

Seb chuckled to himself.

"I think you should ask Nick about those later," he suggested, his voice beginning to trail away as his light started flickering.

"Seb!" Jeff cried in a panic, "Tell me what I have to do to help you. Tell me now, I have to know!"

The pixie smiled softly.

"Clap," he said, coughing slightly once again, "The children, they have to believe." He gasped for air. "They have to clap if they believe, Jeff."

Suddenly, Jeff knew exactly what he had to do, and he leapt up from where he was crouching on the floor, still cradling Sebastian in his hands.

"Clap!" he yelled at the top of his voice, "Clap if you believe in fairies!"

Of course, we all know that there were no children within hearing of distance of him, but he knew that Neverland would let him appeal to all those asleep in their beds and dreaming happily, for the island had a clever way of slipping into children's dreams in much the same way it had done for Nick.

"Clap!" Jeff tried again, and this time there was a faint echo back to him of someone in the world clapping in the affirmative. "I can hear you!" he cried, even louder this time, "Clap, children, if you believe in fairies!"

The echoes of the clapping began rising and rising in volume within the hideout. We must clap too, even if we're not all children, for Sebastian must get well again.

Eventually, the walls were almost shaking with the sheer force of the clapping, for so many did believe in fairies, and, slowly, the light began to return to the pixie.

Once the bright glow had enveloped Sebastian almost completely, he began to push himself up into a sitting position in Jeff's hands, and then a standing one, and finally, he launched himself back into the air once again.

Jeff crowed in delight that his friend had recovered, and he bounded around the room a few times, Sebastian fluttering overhead.

"Come on, Seb," he said, "I have to go and tell Nick how I feel!"

Sebastian's joy faltered slightly as he remembered the fate of the Warblers and Nick.

"Wait, Jeff," he called, halting the blonde boy as he was opening the entrance to the hideout.

"What is it?" Jeff asked, turning to face the pixie, "You said I had to find Nick, so that's what I'm doing. We need to leave now if we're to catch him and the Warblers up before they reach London."

"Jeff," Sebastian said gently, "They haven't gone to London."

"Yes, they have," Jeff insisted, "They left because Nick persuaded them to, since he was feeling homesick."

Sebastian shook his head.

"Hunter's captured them, and it was him that sent you that present which contained a bomb," he corrected his friend, "I saw them being taken back to the pirate ship, we need to hurry if we want to save them, Jeff."

Jeff's eyes widened and he scrambled out of the entrance as fast as he could.

He'd forgotten about the bomb and the present completely; he should have known that it was Hunter who'd left it for him, because Nick would never give him something as dangerous as that.

As the pair flew off into the night, Jeff realised that he ought to thank the pixie for everything that he'd done for him.

"Thank you, Seb," he said softly, "For what you've told me tonight. I owe you something in return, and so I promise that I'll grant you any one thing that you truly want."

"You don't owe me anything, Jeff," Seb said, "You're my best friend, I did it because I wanted to, not because I wanted a reward."

But Jeff was persistent, and eventually the pixie decided that he would save his wish for when he desperately needed it.

And then it was straight back to the matter in hand, and they continued in silence to save their friends.

* * *

Hunter Clarington was feeling very pleased with himself. Yes, there was no doubt in his mind that he'd succeeded once and for all; the Warblers and Nick were all in front of him, tied to his ship's mast, while the troublesome pixie was locked in his study, and Jeff had been dealt with by that bomb.

Unfortunately, we know that Hunter's plan had gone rather astray with the disappearance of Sebastian, and although he did have Nick and the Warblers, that was the only part to have worked out as he'd wanted it to.

The rest of the pirate crew were all standing to attention on the main deck, awaiting their next orders from their captain, but Hunter had already decided that he would be having a little fun with the captives before he dealt with them completely.

But, first, he would retrieve Sebastian and maybe taunt the pixie's friends by revealing just how the little creature had betrayed them and their hideout.

Hunter entered his study, carefully lighting a lantern as he did so, and casting the flickering light around the room. Strangely, he did not also see the telltale glow of the pixie himself.

"Sebastian?" he called, his voice warningly low, "Sebastian?"

He lifted the light a little higher and it illuminated the shattered lantern on the floor, and the fact that there was clearly no pixie anymore.

He was so angry that he actually growled.

"Darned creature!" he cried, kicking in frustration at the broken glass.

He knew the first place that irksome pixie would have gone and it didn't bode well for his plan. He was going to have to deal with the Warblers and Nick quicker than he'd previously anticipated.

But suddenly, as he cursed Sebastian again, he felt an odd twist in his chest, as though the very act of hating the pixie was tugging at his heart and causing him pain. He doubled over and clutched at his chest as another twinge shot through him. What was wrong with him?

He tried to yell in frustration about Seb again, but he couldn't even make himself form the words that he wanted, and it wasn't even because he physically couldn't, it was because he actually didn't want to do it.

His mind was telling him that he shouldn't hate the pixie.

It was telling him that he should be feeling the complete opposite, and he didn't have a clue what to do about it.

* * *

Hunter emerged from his study a few minutes later, having spent the last few moments getting his thoughts together. In his mind, the worst thing that he could do was show his prisoners, and his crew, his sudden vulnerability; that would just make him seem weak.

The Warblers and Nick were bound by rope to the centre mast in front of Hunter, and he surveyed them carefully, looking for any signs of weakness, but he found that they were all remaining remarkably stoic in the face of adversity.

"They probably think that Sterling will come and save them," he muttered to himself and he smirked cruelly, "Poor mistaken boys."

Wes noticed Hunter looking over at them and he narrowed his eyes crossly.

"What do you intend on doing to us?" he asked calmly, "You have not captured all of us."

Hunter smirked at him.

"I don't need Sterling to be here, if that's what you mean," he said, "Although I would like to see his face as I make you walk the plank."

* * *

**A/N: Ooo, what's happening to Hunter? :) I'm anticipating maybe two more chapters of this story, and then an epilogue - after which I will be beginning a new Niff story that I hope you will all read :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave me a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Chapter 14 is here...and then there's only one more chapter and then the epilogue! But I will be starting another story soon, which I hope that you will all consider reading, and also two oneshots as well :) Also, thank you for the continued support for this story :)**

**Please excuse the way that the fight sequence in this is written, I discovered that I really can't write sword fights!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Although I would like to see his face as I make you walk the plank."

If the Warblers were shocked by this declaration of their fate, then they did not show it, but instead all of their minds were in turmoil. What had Hunter done to Jeff? And where exactly was Sebastian now? Hunter was acting as though he'd already dealt with the pixie, yet they hadn't had any proof and the pirate hadn't definitely confirmed anything.

Only Wes had fully worked everything out; he'd surmised that Sebastian must have been the one to betray the location of their hideout, since the rest of them had all been accounted for and Hunter clearly knew of Sebastian's dislike of Nick, yet he'd also seen the glow of Sebastian's light as they'd been marched to the pirate ship. He knew that the pixie would have headed straight back to find Jeff at their hideout as soon as he was free.

He could only hope that he had got there in time to save the blonde boy from whatever Hunter had been planning for him.

"We're not afraid of you," Thad cried out fiercely, "Jeff will come and save us!"

Hunter had to refrain from smirking at the Warbler's shout of defiance, for he was convinced that it was all a false hope for them, but he wasn't going to let on to that just yet; let them suffer a bigger disappointment later when Sterling didn't show.

But there was that niggling feeling of doubt somewhere in Hunter's mind; he still had an escapee pixie to deal with, and he had a feeling that, despite not being particularly large in stature, Sebastian was capable of causing an awful lot of damage to his plans.

"Jeff will free us!" David added, and soon Trent was chiming in as well.

The noise of the Warblers' cries rose until it became so loud that Hunter felt that he had to deal with it:

"Shut up!"

His shout silenced the boys in front of him immediately.

"Sterling thinks that you're in London anyway," the pirate captain spoke in a quieter tone, "He won't think your absence is strange, and he _won't_ come and save you." He paused to take some delight in the way that the boys' faces fell as they realised the truth in what he was saying.

"I wouldn't underestimate Jeff, if I were you," Wes' voice rang out clearly across the main deck.

He fixed Hunter with a piercing gaze, and was secretly pleased to see the pirate captain cower back a little at the harshness of his tone.

Hunter felt rather unnerved as Wes spoke; the boy sounded as though he had everything worked out in his head and that he already knew everything about Hunter that there was to know. However, unwillingly to show weakness, the captain shook his worries away and spoke as confidently as he could; he mustn't have known, but it was too late and Wes had seen him falter slightly.

"Sterling isn't going to save you," Hunter reiterated boldly, "Mainly because he can't!" He smirked maliciously and laughed harshly to himself.

"As I said, I wouldn't underestimate him," Wes repeated calmly, sounding utterly unperturbed by what Hunter had just admitted; and Hunter would be lying if he said that what the Warbler had said didn't panic him a bit.

Unfortunately, Wes' calm attitude had not filtered back to the rest of the Warblers, who were all in various states of shock. Trent's mouth was open in a permanent cry of horror; while David was rapidly shaking his head, as though doing this enough times would make whatever Hunter had said completely untrue; and Thad let out a rather colourful string of island curses on Hunter, the ship, all the pirates and anyone else that he could take his anger out on.

The only prisoner to have stayed completely silent during the entire exchange was Nick, and now Hunter's gaze fell on the brunette boy. The pirate captain knew that Nick had looked up in hope every time that Sterling's name had been mentioned, only for him to realise that the blonde boy wasn't actually there, and then he'd gone back to staring morosely at the floor.

Hunter smiled cruelly to himself, he knew exactly what was wrong with the boy, for he'd overheard the conversation between him and Sterling, in which the blonde had completely broken his heart by turning him down.

The pirate captain knew that he had to deal with the Warblers as fast as possible, just in case Sterling and the pixie did turn up to save their friends, but he still had some time to taunt them further as his crew got the plank ready.

"Sam," he turned to the bo'sun, who was standing almost directly behind him, "Ready the plank and get the prisoners prepared to walk."

"Yes, Cap'n," Sam replied, "Very good, Cap'n."

He hurried away immediately towards the crew and began ordering the other pirates around, so that while Finn and Puck went to fetch the plank, Artie and Mike readied themselves to remove the ropes binding the prisoners so that they could walk.

Hunter looked pleased at the sight of his plans coming together for the final conclusion, and while his men worked, he approached the Warblers himself.

He stood in front of them and surveyed them briefly, just to let them know that it was he who would win this seemingly never ending struggle between the boys and the pirates.

The Warblers, understandably, refused to give up without a fight, and Hunter found himself having to avoid Thad, who tried to bite him when he got too close to him. As the captain stepped to his left to get out of the range of the rather angry Warbler, he ended up directly in front of Nick, who was still looking more interested in the ground than what was actually going on around him.

"Something wrong, Nicky, hmm?" Hunter asked mockingly, lifting the brunette's chin so that he was forced to look up at the pirate.

Nick's anger rose at both the humiliation that Hunter was putting him through, and also the nickname; only Jeff was allowed to call him that. He wasn't going to be become a joke in front of Clarington and his band of cutthroats, so he kept his mouth firmly shut.

"Not much to say, huh?" Hunter persisted, slowly beginning to tighten his grip on Nick's face. "Too upset by the fact that Sterling doesn't love you?"

Nick kept his expression determined, when he really wanted nothing more than to punch Clarington in the face and be over with everything.

Hunter laughed, watching the desire for retaliation in the brunette's eyes, and then as he tried to fight it within himself.

"I'm surprised that you're not crying already, Nicky," the pirate captain sneered, "Considering that dear little lover-boy might actually be hurt at this very moment."

Nick gritted his teeth and bit his tongue to prevent an angry retort from slipping out, or, worse, he might actually burst into tears; stay strong, Nick, for all hope is not lost just yet.

"And what about in a few moments, when you walk off the end of that plank, do you think that Sterling would cry for you if he was here?" Hunter continued, enjoying every moment of his torture, "Or would he just turn a blind eye because you're just another of his friends? See, Nicky, just friends."

Nick clamped down on his tongue so hard to stop himself talking that he was worried that he might have bitten straight through it.

"Cap'n, the plank's ready," Sam's call saved Nick from any further taunting, as Hunter dropped his grip on his chin and walked away to face all of the prisoners together.

"So, who will go first?" the pirate captain asked, rubbing his hands together at the sudden realisation that he was about to overcome his nemesis and his friends once and for all.

Unsurprisingly, none of the Warblers leapt at the chance to be the first to die, instead, they fixed Hunter with an icy gaze and didn't say anything.

"If nobody comes forward, then I shall have to choose myself," Hunter warned, "And you will just prolong your own suffering." He paused. "So, who will it be?"

Still, there was nothing but silence from the Warblers in front of him.

"Fine," he sighed, "I suppose that it will have to be my choice." He was not entirely impressed, he was hoping for a complete breakdown of at least one of the Warblers, but instead they clearly thought that it was better for them to put on brave faces and deal with their fate. "Alright," he paused to choose a boy to walk the plank.

Just then, Wes caught sight of something moving out of the corner of his eye; it was something far off in the distance, too far away to be made out properly, but Wes knew instinctively what it was.

"I'll do it!" he cried, "I'll go first!"

Hunter smiled.

"We have a volunteer," he said smoothly, and he waved Artie and Mike forwards to release Wes from the rope that was tying him to the mast.

Mike was about to also remove the rope around Wes' ankles so that he could walk forward, when Hunter halted him.

"No, leave that rope tied," the captain ordered, "I've heard that people _sink_ much better when both their hands and feet are tied."

Instead, Mike had to haul Wes over to the plank, while the Warbler was forced to perform a rather undignified hop in an attempt not to fall flat on his face.

Now, you may be wondering why the Warblers were worried at all about having to walk the plank, for surely they could just launch themselves off the end and straight up into the sky, for we all know that Jeff has enabled them to fly. Unfortunately, flying while both their legs and hands are bound is not an option, for it would completely unbalance them and they'd most likely pitch into the sea anyway, and the entire effort would have been for nothing.

You may also say, why can't the Warblers just swim away from the pirate ship? For we know that they can all swim, since they do it in the lagoon regularly. However, Hunter had already considered this, and had made sure that the ship was far enough out from shore that it would be too tiring for any boy to swim back there. And anyway, there are creatures in the water who, although nearly all friendly towards Jeff and the Warblers, might hear a splash and mistakenly eat a boy thinking that he was a pirate.

And so it is under these conditions that Wes approached his fate, standing almost on the very edge of the plank; all he had to do was jump. But he stalled for as long as he could, turning back to the Warblers and addressing them first.

"Patience," he said, "Even the best laid plans go wrong."

The rest of the Warblers frowned at his remark and then watched as Wes winked and stepped calmly off the edge of the plank.

"Wes!" Trent cried in anguish as the boy disappeared.

And then there was silence.

Silence.

Wait, silence? Everyone on deck began looking at each other in confusion. What had just happened?

Where was the splash?

Yes, that was it; that was what was wrong. There was no splash, when there should have been as Wes hit the water.

"Finn, go and see what's happened," Hunter ordered hurriedly, his mind racing as he wondered how the Warbler could be taking such a long time to make contact with the surface of the sea.

Finn leaned over the side of the ship, and immediately gave a startled cry.

"Cap'n, he's not there!"

"What?" Hunter exclaimed in anger.

He whipped around and immediately caught sight of Nick, the brunette was still tied to the mask, but he had a hopeful light shining in his eye.

That glint of hope made the pirate captain very angry.

"It's your lover-boy's fault that everything I do goes wrong!" he practically snarled at Nick, who finally lost it with him.

"For the last time!" he almost screamed, "Jeff does not love me!"

"You're wrong."

There was a stunned silence as a new but extremely familiar voice interrupted the scene that was unfolding on the main deck.

Slowly, everyone on the pirate ship looked up into the air, and there, hovering a few feet above the floor, was Jeff, flanked by Wes and Sebastian.

"Sterling!" Hunter cried, but no one appeared to be listening to him in the slightest.

"You're wrong," Jeff repeated, locking eyes with Nick, before flying down the deck to land directly in front of the brunette; the pirates nearby were too shocked to even move to intercept him.

Jeff took Nick's hands, despite them being bound in front of him, and leant in, pressing a firm kiss to Nick's lips; Nick's eyes widened in shock, before he began to kiss back eagerly.

Eventually, they broke apart and Nick leant his forehead against Jeff's.

"I love you," the blonde boy said earnestly.

"I love you too," Nick replied, slightly breathless from the kiss and the shock that Jeff had been the one to initiate the intimate contact. Though, judging by the way that Sebastian was winking and grinning at him strangely over Jeff's shoulder, he imagined that the pixie was the one who had educated Jeff on what to do.

Jeff grinned happily, for he now knew what Sebastian had meant by pouring all of his feelings into that kiss, and although he still wasn't entirely sure what he was doing, it felt right.

He reached to his side and then placed his hands back on Nick's wrists; before the brunette knew it, the ropes binding him were falling onto the wooden floorboards. And then Jeff knelt down and made light work of the ones around his ankles as well, all while Nick watched him in awe.

"Sterling!" Hunter had finally properly recovered his senses and he was just drawing his sword when Jeff turned around. "I see you escaped my little _present_ then."

"Thanks to Sebastian, I did," Jeff replied, holding his knife out in front of him as he stepped away from Nick and towards the pirate captain.

"Come and fight me like a man, Sterling," Hunter said, drawing the blonde boy out into the middle of the main deck.

Jeff smiled.

"I'm not a man, Clarington," he said, "I'm a boy, but I'll fight you all the same."

* * *

Meanwhile, as the pirates were distracted by the unfolding drama in front of them, Sebastian flew down and stole the key for the store room from Sam's belt, before handing it over to Wes, who promptly disappeared. The pixie then went over to the mast and began helping Nick untie the rest of the Warblers.

"Thank you," Nick said quietly to Seb, as he alighted on Thad's hands and began working on the knot in the rope.

"What for?"

"You know what for," Nick answered.

Sebastian smiled.

"It was nothing," he said, "I just wanted to do the right thing."

And with that he flew away, before Nick had a chance to ask him what had given him a change of heart.

Meanwhile, Hunter and Jeff were engaged in a fierce sword fight in the middle of the deck, and the other pirates were trying to get as far out of the action as possible by backing up into the railings on the side of the ship.

"Wait, where are the prisoners?" Puck asked, pointing in the direction of the now empty mast.

"I don't know," Artie replied, looking up and down the deck.

"There!" Mike cried seconds later, as he caught sight of Wes emerging from the store room and handing the other Warblers back their weapons.

"Here, have this." Wes pressed a short sword into Nick's hands after he'd finished giving the other weapons back to their rightful owners.

"I can't use this!" Nick cried, "I've never fought anyone with a sword in my life."

Wes flashed him a smile.

"There's a first time for everything," he said, "And anyway, we'll leave you Sam, he can't wield a weapon very well either."

And with those words of encouragement, Wes joined the rest of the Warblers in facing the pirates, who were running down the deck to meet them. Wes immediately took on Puck, while, next to him, David clashed swords with Finn. With a loud cry, Thad raced up the deck to meet Mike halfway, as Trent found himself in front of Artie.

Which, true to Wes' word, left Nick with Sam.

Nick weighed up the sword in his hand; it wasn't as long as a regular sword, which meant that it was, fortunately, lighter as well. Taking a deep breath, he shifted the sword in his hand, and prepared to defend himself with it.

* * *

"You'll pay for everything that you've done, Sterling," Hunter growled as he slowly backed Jeff closer and closer towards the edge of the pirate ship. "You'll pay especially for cutting off my finger and feeding it to that crocodile!"

"Never!" Jeff crowed, nimbly leaping around and dodging the blows from Hunter's sword.

However, just as Hunter thought that he was gaining the upper hand, since Jeff was practically trapped between him and the railings of the ship's side, the blonde boy jumped into the air and caught hold of the rigging.

With a crow of delight, Jeff began to haul himself up the rigging and away from Hunter. The pirate captain snarled in anger at the boy's antics, and he began to climb up behind Jeff, his sword gripped awkwardly in his hand.

Jeff reached the top first, steadying himself lightly on the thin strip of wood above the rigging, and preparing to face Hunter once he had finished climbing.

Clarington was facing Jeff again a few moments later, as they edged each other along the narrow wooden board, daring the other to make the first move.

Hunter struck first, almost off-balancing Jeff with the force of the blow, but, after wobbling a little, the blonde boy managed to regain his footing to strike back at the pirate and push him closer to one end.

They continued to go back and forth for a while, as neither could gain the upper hand.

At one point, Jeff managed to get Hunter all the way to one end of the wood. He was about to deliver the final blow and push the pirate captain into the waiting sea below, when a loose rope was carried past them on the breeze. Thinking quickly, Hunter took hold of it and was swung back down onto the deck below.

Jeff narrowed his eyes in frustration before flying down to confront his enemy back on the main deck.

All around him and Hunter, the Warblers, even Nick, were valiantly holding back the rest of the pirate crew. Thad already had Mike tied to the mast in the place that he had once been in, and David looked very close to getting Finn to surrender as well. Within a few minutes, Wes had Puck pinned to the mast too, and at one end of the deck, Artie was putting down his sword to show that he was giving in to Trent.

"Should we help Nick?" Thad asked Wes, as they watched Nick bravely fend off Sam.

Wes shook his head.

"No, he's got this covered," he said.

As Wes had predicted, Sam threw down his sword and began begging Nick for mercy. The brunette granted it immediately; his energy having been used up by the sword fight, and he didn't particularly want continue anyway.

And so there was just Jeff and Hunter left, circling each other on the deck again. Accompanied by varied shouts from the Warblers and the pirates, they fought for several more minutes, until Jeff gained the upper hand, and he forced Hunter backwards as fast as he could. The pirate captain tried to parry Jeff's knife, but suddenly the pace became all too fast for him and he tripped backwards onto the wooden boards.

In a second, Jeff was leaning over him, having kicked the pirate's sword away and placed his own knife at Hunter's throat.

"It's over, Clarington," Jeff said, the excitement of the adventure bright in his eyes.

He was about to deal the fatal blow, when a voice rang out.

"Wait!"

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I really have made Hunter evil, haven't I? And I made him so lovely in ****_Conspiratio_****...oh well, it's fun writing evil!Hunter :) And I do seem to find that I change the personalities of the Warblers for each story, well, all the characters except Wes, I'm pretty sure that he stays the same every time! :) But...Niff kissed! Yay! :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: So, here it is - Chapter 15, which is the final proper chapter of this story (there will be an epilogue)! I hope you've all enjoyed Peter Pan!Niff and thank you so much for the wonderful response that this story has had - please keep the feedback coming because I love to know what you think about my writing! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

"Wait!"

Jeff's knife was halted just as it grazed the skin of Hunter's neck; fortunately not enough to draw blood. Anger and frustration pulsed through his veins, this was his moment of glory, of retribution for Hunter, and he knew who it was who was restraining him from fulfilling his one goal; it was someone who should have been supporting him every step of the way, yet was now interfering with his plans.

"Sebastian," he said lowly, the warning in his voice seemed almost completely unlike his normal self, but in this moment of victory, he had everything he'd ever wanted, and this adventure was about to be snatched from his grasp.

"Jeff, don't do it," the pixie flew down into view now, and he alighted on Hunter's chest, much to the pirate captain's surprise.

Jeff narrowed his eyes at his friend and wondered where this sudden change of heart had come from; it was so uncharacteristic of Sebastian to want to spare someone's life when the person in question was his mortal enemy. And anyway, what happened to him being Jeff's best friend and doing what Jeff wanted most?

Jeff might have expected this sort of compassion from Wes, maybe, if he thought that it was wiser to do so, or maybe from Nick, who didn't quite seem to understand yet the island normality for danger and death.

"Why not?" Jeff demanded of his best friend, "Why would you stop me now? This has always been between me and Clarington, and I've won, why would you take that away from me?"

"Jeff," Sebastian said gently, "You don't understand, I…"

"I'm fed up with being told that I don't understand!" Jeff cried suddenly, "I would understand if people would tell me what was going on!"

"Jeff, calm down," Nick knelt down beside the blonde boy and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think you should listen to Seb."

"You do?" Jeff asked softly, and Nick nodded.

"I do."

Meanwhile, Hunter was frowning deeply as he tried to work out what was going on; he had a pixie sat on his chest, and two boys, one with a knife at his throat, leaning over him.

"Just get it over and done with, Sterling," he growled, "Let everyone know how you've _won_."

"Be quiet," Jeff snapped, glaring at the pirate, who just glared back at him.

"Stop it!" Sebastian's shrill voice cut through the tension in the air, "Stop it, both of you!" He looked up at his best friend. "Jeff, you promised me something before we got here. Do remember what it was?"

Jeff looked lost for a moment, before he began nodding slowly.

"I promised that I'd grant one thing for you," he said.

"Exactly," Sebastian answered, "And I've found my one wish: I want you to let Hunter go."

"I can't do that!" Jeff exclaimed, "Anything but that!"

"You said it could be anything, Jeff," the pixie reminded him.

Below them, Hunter laughed.

"I'd hate to know what your failure feels like, Sterling," he said, "I guess you don't win this time."

"Seb, don't make me do this," Jeff said quietly, begging his friend not to let his enemy win again, "You can't want me to lose, can you?"

"You won't lose," Sebastian insisted, "Trust me, Jeff."

"I think you should trust him," Wes added from somewhere to their left, his calm authority sounding certain.

Reluctantly, Jeff agreed.

"Fine," he said, "What are you going to do?"

Jeff closed his eyes as though he was expecting Hunter to suddenly leap up and attack him, but instead there was a pause before Sebastian spoke:

"Kiss me."

"What?" Jeff asked in shock, opening one eye to look down at the pixie, only to discover that his best friend was standing over Hunter instead. "What?" he repeated, this time in utter confusion.

He turned to look at Nick, who was watching the proceedings with an understanding smile on his face.

"Just wait and see," the brunette told him with a smile.

And so Jeff waited for what seemed like an eternity, for Hunter was vehemently denying that it was a good idea for him to kiss the pixie, but eventually he gave in, once both Nick and Wes had ordered him to.

Slowly, he lifted his head up to meet Sebastian halfway; it was possibly the most awkward kiss in the history of kisses considering that Sebastian was around twelve times smaller than the pirate captain.

There was a noise, something that sounded like when a spark jumps between two objects, and a flash of blinding light that had everyone on the deck shouting out in surprise.

Jeff and Nick found themselves being knocked to one side as someone in front of them violently kicked them both in the shins and they collapsed together onto the wooden floorboards.

"What just happened?" Jeff asked in bewilderment, as he tried to blink away the light spots in his eyes. The majority of the deck was still obscured from his sight, and he couldn't see very much to his right, as Nick had landed on top of him and the brunette boy's arm was directly in his eye line.

"Oh my…" came Thad's shocked voice, as he was the first to finally be able to see properly again, and slowly everyone else began chiming in with similar exclamations.

"Jeff, you'll want to see this," Nick said softly, raising himself up into a sitting position and pulling the blonde with him so that he could see what was happening.

There, lying entangled together on the deck, were Hunter and Sebastian, both in the same positions they had been when they had kissed, except for one thing:

Sebastian was now human-sized.

* * *

Slowly, Hunter opened his eyes; he'd closed them as soon as there had been a flash of light, and now it was over, there was something warm and heavy lying across his chest, and he was curious to find out what it was.

Sebastian.

The pixie was smiling down from above him, except he was the same size now as everyone else on the deck and kissing him wouldn't be quite so awkward.

"Hello," Sebastian breathed out quietly, "Surprise, I guess."

"Just a bit," Hunter replied just as quietly, "A good surprise though, kissing someone who is only six inches tall isn't the easiest."

"No, I guess not," Sebastian said, smirking as he leant down and kissed the pirate firmly on the lips.

Their private moment was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Jeff, as the blonde boy came scrambling across the deck to practically inspect his best friend.

"Sebastian?" he cried, almost pushing the pixie away from Hunter, and pulling him upright.

"Jeff!" Sebastian groaned as the boy in question held him firmly in place and just stared at him for a few moments.

"This isn't fair," Jeff grumbled after a while, "You're taller than me now."

With a grin, Sebastian realised that Jeff was right and he was actually a couple of inches taller than the blonde.

"Yes!" he cried in delight, "You deserve that after all the times you've called me 'little'!"

Jeff pouted petulantly as his best friend began dancing happily around him and laughing to himself.

"Don't be sad, Jeffy," Sebastian said as he passed him, "As least you're not as short as Thad is!"

"Hey!" Thad cried from over near the mast, where the Warblers were still restraining the rest of the pirate crew.

"What happens now?" Sam asked, looking helplessly at Hunter, who was still lying on the floorboards. "We can't very well go back to fighting if we're tied up, and Jeff can't kill Hunter if Sebastian's in love with him."

Slowly, Hunter stood up and approached the blonde boy.

"Let's start again," he said solemnly, "And try to forget our past quarrels. I want to be with Sebastian, and I know that I can't be your enemy anymore when Sebastian is your best friend."

He held out his hand for Jeff to shake, but the blonde boy just regarded him warily.

Jeff looked down at Hunter's outstretched hand; was he expecting him to give himself in return for his friendship? Jeff was pretty sure that wasn't how true friendships worked.

"Why should I trust you?" he asked, "Why should I believe that just by kissing my best friend you have suddenly changed?"

Hunter opened his mouth to reply, but it wasn't his voice that spoke.

"Because love changes people, Jeffy," Nick cut in swiftly as he came to stand by Jeff's side and calmly entwine their fingers together.

"It didn't change you or me," Jeff said determinedly.

"It did," Nick said softly, "It can change people for the better, Jeff, and I think it did that to us too."

"But what if it hasn't changed Hunter?" Jeff asked, "What if I let him go and within a few days he's back to his old ways?"

"You should give him a chance," Nick insisted, "For imagine what it would be like for Sebastian if you killed his one true love?"

"It would be like Hunter taking Nick away from you forever," Sebastian pointed out helpfully, as he came to stand next to the pirate captain.

Jeff paled at that thought.

"Alright," he said eventually, "I forgive you, Hunter, and we can start again; I guess that I'd better ask you to forgive me as well."

"Thank you," Hunter said, "I forgive you too, Jeff."

He nodded and kept his hand out for Jeff to shake, but the blonde boy just continued to stare at it as though it was a foreign object.

"Jeff, you're supposed to…" Nick began, motioning towards Hunter's hand, and Jeff was suddenly reminded of the first night that he had properly met Nick.

"Shake it, I remember!" he finished, sounding mightily pleased with him, and he shook Hunter's hand firmly.

"Hey, what about us now, then?" Puck's voice called out, and he brought everyone's attention back to the fact that the pirate crew were still tied to the mast and being guarded by the Warblers.

There was silence as everyone tried to think what to do with the pirates; they couldn't really be pirates anymore without their captain, who appeared to have renounced his piracy in the previous moments.

"We're not evil," Artie insisted, "We don't have to be pirates."

"No, it just seemed like a bit of fun," Finn added, "We didn't really want to hurt anyone."

"We can't just leave them here," David pointed out, "But they can't really join the Warblers, can they?"

"They could come to London with us," Nick said suddenly, "And then we could decide what to do with them later."

There was a tense silence as Jeff turned to look at the brunette with a hurt expression on his face.

"Why do you still want to go to London?" he asked, "I thought you'd want to stay here with me now."

"I do want to stay with you," Nick amended his statement quickly, as he took both of Jeff's hands in his, "I just want to go back and see Kurt and Blaine again."

He leant in and kissed Jeff gently.

"I don't plan on ever leaving you," he said, and the blonde smiled broadly.

"We still want to go to London as well," Wes added, motioning to himself and the Warblers standing next to him.

"Please, Jeff?" Nick pleaded, "Say that we can all go!"

Jeff smiled; he couldn't say no to anything that Nick wanted.

"Fine, we'll go," he said, "Sebastian, I hope you're still able to make this ship fly, even if I can't lift you up and shake you like I used to."

Sebastian winked at him.

"I'm still a pixie," he said, "I'm just a much bigger pixie."

Nick was pretty sure that Sebastian had hidden a rather dodgy joke somewhere in that sentence, since he was now glancing suggestively at Hunter, but Jeff seemed entirely oblivious as he just nodded understandably.

Sebastian was just about to launch himself up into the air so that he could fly across the ship, when the noise of something approaching the boat stopped everyone in their tracks, especially Hunter.

_Tick. Tick. Tick._

"Crocodile!" Sam squeaked, "Cap'n, it's the crocodile!"

Hunter didn't reply, for he was frozen on the deck, one arm outstretched as he reached for Sebastian to bring him close to him.

"Oh dear," Jeff said, "That's a problem that I don't think can be fixed by shaking hands or talking."

"I think talking might work," Wes interjected hurriedly, "Sebastian, I think this is where you come in?"

Sebastian looked at the Warbler in confusion, before realisation hit and he nodded.

"Why? What can Seb do about a crocodile?" Jeff asked, "Fairies can't…"

Sebastian fumed.

"I thought we'd got over this!" he cried, "I'm a pixie, not a fairy, and if you'd been paying attention, you'd know that pixies can communicate with animals and fairies cannot!"

He glared at Jeff, before diving overboard and flying away to find the offending crocodile.

"Well, we'd better untie these pirates," Jeff decided suddenly, clapping his hands together as the Warblers got to work, and, within seconds, the pirate crew were free. "And once Seb returns, we will fly this ship to London."

* * *

Seb reappeared in barely any time at all, and announced proudly that he'd explained the situation to the crocodile and she'd gladly agreed to find a different prey. Then he sprinkled the ship with pixie dust so that it could fly, and away they went. Hunter had remarked that Sebastian was hero, and had been about to kiss the pixie, when Thad had ruined the moment by saying something about needing to be sick. The rest of the Warblers and the pirates had hurriedly muttered similar comments, and Sebastian had then dragged Hunter somewhere below deck where there wouldn't be anyone watching; or at least, that what he said, even though Trent had made a joke about going and spying on them.

Nick didn't know whether he did go or not in the end. If he was honest, he didn't really know what anyone else on the ship had been doing since they'd begun the journey to London, although he did hope that one of them, probably Wes, was steering the ship on the right course.

All he knew was that he and Jeff were alone in the crow's nest. There was just enough room for them to sit down if one of them sat in the other's lap; and at that moment, Jeff was perched in Nick's and they were discussing their feelings for each other.

"Nicky," Jeff began shyly, "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything, love," Nick replied immediately.

"Sebastian told me about, er, kissing," the blonde boy said, shifting in Nick's lap so that he could look up at the brunette, "But he also said that you'd explain to me the, er, other physical aspects of love; what did he mean?"

Nick blushed and laughed a little, before leaning in and placing a soft kiss on Jeff's forehead.

"He meant that there are other ways of showing someone that you love them," he explained, "But I'll tell you about those later, how about that?"

Jeff grinned and nodded eagerly.

"Alright," he said.

"And Jeff?"

"Yes?"

"It's probably best that you don't ask anyone else about it, nor go around telling everyone else when I do tell you."

Jeff frowned.

"Why not?"

"You'll see."

Nick smiled and pulled the blonde in for another kiss.

* * *

"London! I see London!" Thad cried as he stood at the bow of the ship with the telescope that he'd found.

"We made it!" Trent said happily, joining Thad at the ship's rail.

Behind them, David was congratulating Wes on his navigation skills, and on the main deck, the pirates were packing away the card game they'd been playing when they heard Thad's shout.

Slowly, the door to the rooms below deck opened and Sebastian dragged Hunter out into the open.

"Did you say that we're there?" Seb asked, as he hurried forward to take a look through the telescope that Thad was holding out to him.

"I'd almost forgotten what England looked like," Hunter mused, "It's been years and years since I last set foot on the mainland."

"I've never been to London before," Mike said, leaning over the rail as Artie pointed out some of the landmarks to him.

"It doesn't look like it's changed at all," Finn said, "At least, from up here it doesn't look like it."

"I wonder if anyone will remember us," Puck said, for, of course, all the pirates had once come from the mainland and had sailed to Neverland on their ship a long time ago.

"I doubt it," Sam said, "I'm not sure I even remember what I was like back then."

"Hey, where are Nick and Jeff?" Trent asked, looking around for their friends.

"They're up in the crow's nest," Wes said, "And they have been there ever since we took off."

Sebastian whistled.

"There can't be much room up there!" he said with a grin.

"I can't imagine that they're doing anything that would require a great space," Wes said dryly, "I think you'll find that they have been talking for most of the time."

"You're no fun," the pixie muttered, but he quickly closed his mouth when the Warbler glared at him.

"Did you say London?" Jeff's blonde head popped up from above the top of the crow's nest.

"We did!" David called back, "Come down here and join us."

Jeff cheered in delight and practically pulled Nick down the rigging after him.

"What do we do now?" Wes asked, once everyone was standing safely on the deck.

"I would quite like to go down and see London," Sam spoke up first, "There's nothing left for me in Neverland, and I think that I could make a new start in London."

"Me too," Puck added in, "I'd like to go down to London as well."

Soon all of the pirates had decided that they wanted to leave Neverland and their lives as pirates to start anew in England.

"What about everyone else?" Wes asked, "Are all of us Warblers returning to Neverland?"

Thad, Trent and David all nodded.

"We're the Warblers," Thad grinned, "We can't just leave each other!"

"Plus, there are still lots of adventures for us to have," David said, "We haven't done everything yet."

"Hunter, Sebastian?"

"We're staying in Neverland," Sebastian said immediately, "I think Hunter will make a good Warbler."

Wes smiled.

"I don't doubt it," he said, and Hunter thanked him gratefully.

"Nick, Jeff?"

"I'm going to go and see Kurt and Blaine," Nick said, "And then I think I'll be returning to Neverland with Jeff, he's not going to be persuaded to leave, and where he goes, I go."

"I'm staying with Nick," Jeff said firmly, and he wrapped his arm around the brunette to pull him closer to him. "And that's how it will always be."

* * *

Everyone bid the pirates farewell, and after being sprinkled with pixie dust, they flew down into London to start the new chapters of their lives.

Nick and Jeff, meanwhile, flew down to the window of Nick's bedroom together, while the Warblers remained behind to take care of the ship until their return.

But Nick and Jeff should be warned that time does funny things when crossing over from the mainland to Neverland and back again; for while Nick may have spent weeks, even months, on the island with the Warblers, it is not so back on the mainland, as they are about to discover.

When they landed together on the windowsill, they discovered that the windows were open and a breeze was blowing through into the room. It was night time and the room was so dark that neither boy could see into it.

"Jeff, do you think they've given this room to someone else?" Nick whispered to his friend, "I've been gone a while, and they might have just thought I ran away in the middle of the night."

Jeff shrugged.

"I have no idea," he said, "Maybe if we turn on the light we'll be able to tell."

Carefully, Nick prised the window open, and both he and Jeff dropped noiselessly onto the middle of the bedroom floor, before Nick made his way over to where he knew the light switch was. He flicked it on and the room was suddenly bathed in light.

Both Nick and Jeff gasped.

"It looks exactly the same as it did when we left," Jeff said in wonderment, and he was right, for the drawer that had been upturned and emptied was still strewn across the floor and Nick's bed was still a mess.

"But it's been ages," Nick said, "Why did they just leave this room for months?"

"Months?" a new voice chimed in, "What are you talking about?"

Both Nick and Jeff jumped, and spun round, only to see two figures curled up together by the open window, and one of them awake and looking at them.

"Blaine?" Nick asked, "Why are you and Kurt asleep by the window?"

"We fell asleep waiting for you," Blaine explained, "We saw you leave."

"How long have you been sleeping then?" Nick asked, "Because I left months ago."

"Months?" This time it was Kurt who spoke, as he was awoken by their voices. "Nick, you left earlier tonight and no one even knows that you've been gone."

"Tonight?" Nick asked, looking stunned, "But I know that it was months!"

Maybe we'd better remind him that time works differently in Neverland than on the mainland? Alright, we'll whisper it to Jeff and he can tell him.

"Nick, time works differently in Neverland," Jeff pointed out, "It's passed more quickly there then here in London."

"Is that where you've been, then?" Blaine asked, "Neverland, with Peter Pan, like in your stories?"

"Yes, I've been to Neverland," Nick said, "But not with Peter Pan, I made that name up, I've been with Jeff, he's who my stories were really about." He reached for Jeff's hand and pulled him closer to him. "This is Jeff, Jeff Sterling, and he's, well, he's mine." And to show them this, he kissed the blonde boy's cheek.

Both Kurt and Blaine's mouths dropped open.

"Jeff, I hope you're treating our friend right," Kurt was the first to recover, and he fixed Jeff with a firm look.

Jeff cowered slightly under the other boy's gaze and turned to Nick for help.

"Please don't terrify him, Kurt," Nick laughed, as Blaine and Kurt both laughed as well.

"So, are you back now?" Blaine asked eagerly, "Have you returned from Neverland and is Jeff staying here with you?"

Nick looked down at the floor.

"No, actually," he said, "We're returning to Neverland after this, to stay there instead."

"But why?" Kurt asked, looking crestfallen, "What about us?"

"There's nothing really in London for me," Nick said simply, "You and Blaine have each other, and you always will do. I love Jeff, and I go where he goes, and that just happens to be back to Neverland."

"But you'll come back and visit, right?" Blaine asked, looking as though tears were about to fall at any moment.

"I promise," Nick said, choking on his own words, "Every year, we'll come for a week in the spring and we can go for walks in Kensington Gardens together."

"Alright," Blaine said, "But, Nick, can we have one last story?"

Nick nodded tearfully.

"Of course," he said, "Why don't you go and wake up all the other children and we'll have one last story all together."

Kurt and Blaine agreed, before leaving the room to get all of the other orphans to join them in Nick's room for the last time.

"One last story and then we leave," Nick said to Jeff, and the blonde nodded.

"I love you," Jeff said quietly.

"I love you too," Nick smiled and Jeff gently reached out to wipe away the brunette's tears.

"Nicky!" a voice cried out and as Nick turned around, he found himself being tackled by the little girl that he'd had to calm down before he'd left for Neverland. Soon, he was almost overcome with all the children that were now attaching themselves to both his legs, both his arms and even his neck.

Jeff watched from near the window as Nick laughed and almost cried as Kurt and Blaine hugged him as well. He knew that Nick wouldn't just leave him, but seeing him so happy with his old friends made Jeff doubt a little that Nick would want to return to Neverland with him.

And then Nick turned back around and held out his hand for Jeff to take, and he pulled him further into the room so that he could be introduced to the orphans, and soon they were clinging to the blonde boy's legs as well. One little boy even loudly declared:

"You're my hero!"

That made Jeff smile.

"Come on, sit down," Nick said, prising each child off of him and seating them all around him on the floor. "It's time for a story."

"Is it the last story?" a girl, no older than seven years old, asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," Nick smiled, "But whatever happens, it doesn't matter, because life's an adventure and you're going to enjoy it whether I tell anymmore stories or not."

"But your stories make me sleep better at night," a little boy said, "And you always calm me down after I have a nightmare."

"I'll still be in your dreams," Nick promised, and he cast a sideways look at Jeff, "I'm pretty sure that if you think of Neverland then you'll see me in your dreams."

"Which story are you going to tell us?" another child inquired.

Nick smiled and reached for Jeff's hand so that he could tangle their fingers together.

"It's a new one," he said, "You won't have heard it before."

"Really?" There was a chorus of voices in front of him. "How does it go?"

Nick took a deep breath and began:

"A long time ago, there was a boy…"

* * *

**A/N: Aww, happy ending for Niff, Huntbastian, the Warblers and the pirates :) There will be an epilogue to this story (because I like epilogues a lot) and that will be posted when I have written the first chapter of my next story - it will be evacuee!Niff (hopefully) and I would love to know if you're thinking about reading it when I put it up :)**

**I also have to write two oneshots that are long overdue (sorry, ****_magiclover222_**** and****_ MeganThreeSix_****) which I am still working on, I promise! :)**

**Thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me what you thought :)**


	16. Epilogue

**A/N: And finally, I present to you the epilogue of ****_Second Star to the Right_**** :) I seriously hope that you've all enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it and sharing it with you - and thank you for the wonderful response that this story has received :)**

**Also, if you start reading this, and think: 'Where have Niff gone? I can't see any Niff!' Just keep reading, there's a reason for their disappearance, I promise, I have not abandoned them in favour of other characters! :)**

**Warnings: Mentions of war, character death (this will become clear at the end!)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Glee and I do not own Peter Pan.**

* * *

_Nick and Jeff left after that night, refusing to stay any longer than to help put the children to sleep. Nearly all of them were crying, but they settled down after Nick repeated his promise that if they dreamed of Neverland and his stories, then they would be able to see him again._

_And they did._

_For every time one of them saw him they would wake up in the morning and loudly tell everyone the wonderful adventures that they'd had with Nick, Jeff and some other boys, known as the Warblers. One boy even claimed to have met an old pirate, who'd taught him how to swordfight, but how accurate that dream was has always been debated._

_But then again, it is Neverland._

_Mr and Mrs Schuester returned later that night to find Nick gone but we explained that he didn't like goodbyes and so had left with warning. _

_I don't know whether they believed us, for there was still an upturned drawer in the centre of the bedroom floor, and all of Nick's belongings were still in place, but they nodded sadly and resigned themselves to never seeing their former charge again._

_I suppose we were lucky that they didn't believe him to have been kidnapped, for although the police have jurisdiction over London, I don't think their resources reach as far as Neverland._

* * *

_Nick and Jeff did return to us the next year._

_It was spring time, just as Nick had hoped, and Kurt and I took him and Jeff walking through Kensington Gardens to look at the flowers._

_They, of course, hadn't changed in the slightest, apart from that Jeff seemed to have matured a little and now acted like a normal seventeen year old; apart from the flying aspect of course, which Nick had to remind him was not suitable for a public park._

_Kurt and I had changed in those few months that we hadn't seen them; Kurt had grown a few inches, while I'd begun to think about our future plans. We consulted Nick on these and told him that we planned to find a place together as soon as possible so that we could be prepared to move out when we turned eighteen._

_Nick laughed and said that maybe he should have been as organised as we were._

_We sat in Kensington Gardens for hours on end and just talked, until Jeff got distracted by some fairies and wandered off. We went round and round trying to find him, until Nick spotted his blonde head above some ornate bushes; of course, we then had to endure the shocked looks from the people around us as we pulled him out._

_I think that Kurt and I were more shocked when he claimed that he'd been playing with the fairies, but Nick seemed to understand completely._

_I guess that was when we began to notice the differences between us and them, or us and Nick at least; he was still Nick, essentially, but he now found anything extraordinary perfectly normal._

* * *

_They came in the spring the next year as well, and Kurt and I took them to the small flat that we planned to rent once we both turned eighteen. They both seemed to like it, but I could tell that neither of them really wanted to stay any longer than necessary in such a small and cramped space. I've never been to Neverland, but I imagine that even for an island, it's reasonably vast._

_We took all of the children with us when we went to Kensington Gardens that year. Nick told them all one of his famous stories and we had a picnic as well. In the afternoon, Jeff began teaching them all how to look for fairies._

_Lots of them then demanded that they wanted to learn how to fight pirates too, but Kurt and I decided that wasn't appropriate in public._

_We thought that it had been a successful day when we traipsed home with a large crowd of exhausted orphans, until one little boy came and found me later on in the evening._

_"Blaine," he said quietly, "Who were those people earlier?"_

_I didn't know what to say to him, for I believed that all of the children would remember Nick at least._

_"Nick and Jeff?" I asked, "Why, Nick used to live here and tell stories to you; he used to tell stories about Jeff."_

_"Really, Blaine?" the little boy said, still looking doubtful, "I don't remember."_

_This was the second change that I noticed; life was carrying on here and the children were growing up, but Nick and Jeff weren't. I'd been hoping that every time that they came back to visit us we could just go back to the way that everything had been before Nick had left, but I discovered that this just wasn't possible._

* * *

_The third year that they arrived, even more things changed._

_They came to our flat, and stayed with us there. Both Kurt and I were older than them now, and that was strange by itself, but we found that Nick was beginning to change as well; one morning Kurt came into the kitchen to find Nick puzzling over the teapot. It was a small and rather insignificant difference, but Nick, who had been making tea for us ever since we could remember in the orphanage, was now baffled by the whole process._

_I asked him about it later._

_"We don't really drink tea in Neverland," he explained, "There aren't really many tea leaves, but if we do get hold of some, Wes makes it for us."_

_He even admitted that he'd started to forget what tea tasted like._

_Things changed further that week, for both Kurt and I had jobs, therefore we had to leave for different lengths of time each day; Kurt worked in a local tailors, while I was working at a publishing office. We left Nick and Jeff at the flat alone when we went out and told them to amuse themselves; they went out a few times, but most of the time they'd stay in all day and puzzle over normal everyday objects and commodities._

_One evening, Kurt asked, out of the blue, if it was possible for us to visit Neverland with them at some point, but we were met with an awkward silence._

_"We'd love for you to come with us," Nick said eventually, "But only children can visit Neverland by flying; we can't take you, since you're adults."_

_Kurt and I nodded understandingly, but we were both sharing the same thoughts; we were adults now, the two boys in front of us were boys still, and that would never change._

_That was the last year that they visited. _

_Spring time came around, and turned into summer without even a trace of them the next year. We knew that they weren't ever going to come back to us, but in our hearts we still kept hope._

_"Maybe they just can't bear to see us grow up anymore?" Kurt suggested, "Or I offended them when I asked to go to Neverland with them."_

_I reassured him that I doubted he'd offended them, but maybe the constant change was upsetting them._

_"Maybe it's a good thing that they didn't come this year," I said, "What with the war and everything."_

_Kurt and I spent the war together. We were both called up at the same time, and we served in the trenches together in the same regiment. We were both lucky to escape unharmed._

_We did have one scrape in which Kurt narrowly missed a bullet to his head when an unfamiliar soldier pulled him away from the top of the trench just in time. The man was a lieutenant, with the initials 'HC' stitched onto his uniform, but we'd never even seen or heard of him before. When we asked what he was doing, he claimed to be coming to see an old friend, to which we both laughed, because who uses the trenches as a meeting place?_

_Later, we saw him engaged in a conversation with a private by the name of Evans, so we assumed that he'd found who he had been looking for._

* * *

_After the war, Kurt returned to his work at the tailors, but my publishing office had closed the year before due to insufficient funding._

_On one of the days that I wasn't searching for a job, I cleared out Nick's room from the orphanage, since it had been empty for several years, and I discovered a stack of papers bundled together under his mattress._

_I sat on his old bed and read through a few of them. They appeared to be notes and an almost complete manuscript for a children's storybook that he'd been planning. All the stories were about Neverland and Jeff; exactly the same stories that Nick had always told us when we were younger._

_I took the papers home to show Kurt, and it was he who suggested that I revise them and add an ending to the stories so that I could have them published for Nick; since I did have experience in publishing._

_I agreed, and while Kurt went to work, I would sit at home and read Nick's notes._

_After a while, I had them completed and in a suitable order, so I advertised in the local paper for a publisher who would be willing to help me. I received answers almost immediately from a few, and so I sent off a short description of the basis of the story to each one. Many replied, but one in particular caught my eye; a man expressed great interest in the story as it reminded him greatly of his past. I assumed that he meant it referred to his childhood, so I booked an appointment to meet with him._

_He turned out to be perfect for the job; he was in a wheelchair and said that nothing gave him greater pleasure when he could not go out than sitting at home and reading through a good manuscript._

_I always thought that he took a particular interest in Nick's work for a reason that went deeper than Nick's talent for bringing a story alive, but I never knew what it was._

_Later that year, Nick's book was finally published under a pseudonym to critical acclaim, but I never took any of the credit for it, neither did anyone know that it was me who had organised its publication._

_I kept Jeff's name as Peter Pan in the stories, I didn't have the heart to change Nick's writings, and I wanted to keep the real Neverland as a secret, I suppose._

* * *

_More years passed, and Kurt and I moved out of the flat and went to live back in the old orphanage, for Mr Schuester had passed away, and Mrs Schuester could not run it alone. We looked after the children there, just as they had done for us when we'd been younger, and we continued to do so even after Mrs Schuester had died as well._

_Kurt and I were forced, due to a lack of space, to sleep in Nick's old room. I always felt strange sleeping there, for it was as though Nick was still there in many ways. He wasn't, of course, but it still felt like it._

_One day, Kurt returned from the tailors with a rather surprising piece of news; he was making a suit for a man who knew Private Evans. It turned out that they'd been talking in the shop and the topic of the war had been brought up. Apparently this man also served but in a different regiment, but he mentioned Evans several times._

_"What was his name?" I asked._

_"Something unusual," Kurt replied, "I can't quite remember, but I feel that it was something almost mythical?"_

_"Mythical?" I asked._

_Kurt laughed._

_"Maybe I didn't put that right," he said, "I seem to think it was similar to a Shakespearian character, which was quite possibly mythical; I don't really know."_

_He never did remember what the man's name was._

* * *

_Kurt and I lived through another war together, and while the orphanage was undamaged, the house next door was flattened almost completely. It was a miracle that no one hurt in the incident._

_Since we had so many children in the orphanage with us, Kurt and I had to have two Anderson shelters built in the garden of the house. Every time the siren went off, we'd split the children into two groups and lead a group each into the shelters._

_We sat in the cold together and kept each other's spirits up by taking card games with us; most of the time, though, we just tried to get some sleep._

_The night that the bomb landed next door, we were taken out of the shelters by a group of wardens, led by one of the tallest people I'd ever come across, named Hudson. He helped us to navigate the rubble and the fire that was now surrounding the house and covering some of our garden; the windows in the orphanage had all been blown out, but that was the only damage we'd suffered._

_The fire crew put out the fire in the next house before it had a chance to reach our property, and we were immensely grateful to them for that. Kurt and I even wrote them a letter to say thank you, and we received a reply from Station Officer Chang, one of the men on duty that night. _

* * *

_All of the children are gone from the orphanage now, and I live here alone. Kurt died a few years ago of a bad heart, and I miss him every day._

_I still go to Kensington Gardens in the springtime, and I sit on the bench near where Jeff was playing the fairies. I look for those little creatures every now and again, but I never see them. I know why; I'm an adult, and fairies can only be seen by children._

_They installed a statue of Jeff in Kensington Gardens a year after Nick's stories were published, and, with the influence of my old publisher, I decided on the place to put it. I chose the centre of the clearing where we had that picnic all those years before, and where it would not be far from the fairies, of course._

_The statue doesn't really look like Jeff, for the boy depicted is much younger than he was, but it still represents him._

_Sometimes I feel that statue needs a companion, and I wish I could commission one of Nick to be placed next to him, but that would require too many questions, and people would say that I was going mad in my old age._

_Now, it's too cold to go to Kensington Gardens, and so I sit in bed and I read Nick's stories to myself all day. Sometimes, I turn on the television, but it is full of news on too many riots or other depressing issues, and I have to turn it off._

_I have a nurse who visits every day, but she fixes me up with any medication and food, and then leaves me to my own devices._

_"If you ever want to talk, Mr Anderson?" she always says, but I always turn her down._

_I prefer to be alone with my own thoughts._

_I still sleep in Nick's room at the orphanage, and it will always be Nick's room to me, no matter if I've slept in it for more years than he ever did._

_Kurt and I always reminded the children of Nick, and told them to dream of Neverland. Some of them did, and some of them said that they saw him and Jeff, but they never really understood the significance._

_Nick became the legend of the orphanage, but in truth he was nothing more than a small brunette who appeared in the children's dreams at night._

_He was never seen properly by many of the children, and those that had met him had grown up a long time ago, and many either did not remember, or were no longer around to remember._

_I've always remembered; I've never forgot._

* * *

_It's getting dark early now, as winter approaches, and I sit inside all day. I just lay in bed most the time now._

_Not too much longer now._

_Nobody comes to see me anymore, only my nurse, and she's left early today because of a family wedding._

_"See you tomorrow, Mr Anderson," she says as she leaves, and I tell her to have a good time at the wedding._

_When she's gone I pick up my original copy of Nick's stories; it's so tattered and worn now that I've thought about having it rebound several times. I don't see the point in doing that now._

_Not too much longer now._

_I've just got to the bit when the child of the story is about to be flown away to Neverland, when something taps on the window._

_I sigh in frustration because that old oak tree is always moving in the wind and hitting the glass._

_The tapping happens again, but I keep reading because I can't be bothered to put on my glasses and see anything properly; I'm lucky that I don't need my glasses for reading._

_The tapping ceases for a few minutes until a faint click catches my attention; I'm lucky that my hearing hasn't deteriorated that much either._

_Trees don't make clicking noises; that is most definitely the lock on the window being opened._

_I scramble for my glasses because I'm mildly panicking now; only a person could open a window lock, and I don't really want to be caught not being able to see if I'm about to be burgled. Though, if it is a burglar, then they've chosen the only occupied room in the house to break into, which I suppose is unfortunate for them._

_I've just about got my glasses on when the window is thrown open and two figures drop onto the bedroom floor together. In the lamplight, I can tell that they're a lot younger than me, not even adults yet._

_"Who is it?" I ask, reaching for the light switch, which I know it just above my bed._

_The two figures jump and turn around as the room in bathed in light._

_All three of us gasp at once._

_Nick and Jeff are standing in front of me, looking barely a day older than they did the last time I saw them, but I do notice that Nick has gained a scar on his forehead; no doubt the remains of an adventure that they've had together._

_"Blaine?" Nick whispers, reaching behind him for Jeff's hand, before taking one pace forward._

_I nod._

_"Where's Kurt?"_

_I duck my head and feel tears welling up inside._

_The two boys understand immediately, and from the corner of my eye I see Jeff slip an arm around Nick and hold him tightly._

_"What happened?" Nick asks faintly, "We were meant to come back in the summertime of…1915, I think it was." He pauses. "I guess we didn't, did we?"_

_I shake my head, and try a rueful smile._

_"Nick," I say, "It's almost December, and you missed 1915 by sixty years."_

_Behind Nick, Jeff's mouth drops open in shock and he makes a small noise of shock._

_"Time," he says softly, "Nicky, we forgot about the time."_

_Nick looks up at the blonde with tears in his eyes._

_"Time works differently in Neverland," he repeats, before looking back at me. "Oh, Blaine, it's only been a year in Neverland, and it's been sixty here! Oh, Blaine, do forgive us!"_

_"I forgive you," I say instantly, "It's not your fault; anyway, Kurt and I didn't think that you'd be able to bear to watch us grow old."_

_There's a silence between us, before I speak again._

_"I published your book, Nick," I say, "And they put a statue of you, Jeff, in Kensington Gardens; it doesn't really look like you, but it feels, in a way, as though it is you. And the children from the orphanage are all gone now, but Kurt and I made sure that they always dreamt of you two."_

_"We saw them," Nick says with a small smile, and then there is a silence again._

_Suddenly, I feel a slight jolt._

_It's time._

_"It's okay, Blaine," it's Jeff speaking now, and I know that he and Nick have come closer to me. "It's time for you to see Kurt again."_

_"Kurt?" I ask softly, "Yes, I'd like to see Kurt again."_

_"Take our hands, Blaine," Jeff says, and he takes my right one, while Nick grasps my left._

_They tug slightly, and I feel as though I'm floating._

_"Am I flying?" I ask quietly, but my voice feels different now._

_"You're flying, Blaine," Nick reassures me._

_"But I thought adults couldn't fly," I say._

_"Look at yourself, Blaine," Jeff says, and I look down._

_I'm seventeen again, I know it, and when I look over my shoulder, I get a shock._

_I'm still lying in bed, I can see myself, but I'm also flying across the room towards the open window._

_I open my mouth to ask what's happening when Nick beats me to it._

_"Your soul lives on, Blaine," he explains, "And you're going to meet Kurt somewhere far from here."_

_I nod slowly; I think I vaguely understand what he's saying._

_"Where is Kurt?" I ask as we leave the bedroom and fly out into the night._

_"You'll see," Jeff says mysteriously, and I know that he is smiling._

_"Can I at least have a clue?" I ask persistently._

_Nick and Jeff exchange a secret smile above my head and Nick speaks:_

_"Second star to the right and straight on till morning."_

* * *

_And so our story ends as this, though Neverland lives on, and shall continue to do so while enough children dream of it at night._

_For as long as Jeff Sterling, the boy who never grew up, and his band of friends, the Warblers, watch over the island, our dreams will be kept safe at night._

**_FIN_**

* * *

**A/N: And that, my wonderful readers, is the end of this story :) I hope that you have enjoyed it, and that you will consider reading my new story, of which the first chapter has been posted and it is called ****_On The Home Front_**** :) Also, you can play spot the pirate with this epilogue, so I hope you spotted them all (including a very special appearance from one!) :)**

**There really is a statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, but it really doesn't look like Jeff at all! (The statue at station, however, does look like Riker from a certain angle!)**

**Thank you for reading, and please a review to tell me what you thought :)**


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